Draw Me Love
by LFxo
Summary: AU. Jane is a waitress in Chicago and finds out that she's pregnant. Maura is an art student who moves into the apartment across from Jane and the two become friends. For her final assesment, Maura decides to draw Jane at each stage of her pregnancy, all the while falling in love with her. Rated T, but liable to change as the story progresses.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hey guys and gals :) I've wanted to write an AU for a while now, but never had a good story in mind. Well, now I do, and I'd really love to know what y'all think of it. All comments are welcome :) Enjoy! xo**

**ONE**

The cold Chicago wind whistled in through the bathroom window as Jane sat slumped on the edge of her bath, her fourth pregnancy test in two days balancing on her fingertips. She had been throwing up every day for a just over a week and so decided that she should just buy a pregnancy test and get it over with. She had hoped with every ounce of her being that it would read negative, but four pregnancy tests later, it still told her that in a little less than nine months, she would have a baby; a baby that she really didn't want; a baby whose father was the latest of many rotten boyfriends that Jane had dated; and a baby that she couldn't afford to support.

The father's name was Casey and he had left Jane to join the army. He would no longer be there for her (not that she was really complaining about that), and he would not be able to help her raise this baby. They'd met at Jane's place of work; a small diner in the city that barely paid enough for Jane to support herself. He'd wandered in out of the rain one evening and had sweet-talked her into a date. It was a nice enough restaurant that he had taken her to, but she could see that he was trying too hard.

Three months later he was enlisted in the army and Jane was sitting on the cold edge of a bathtub crying. She really ought to ask her parents for help, but when she'd dropped out of college and moved to Chicago four years ago without so much as a goodbye, it was unlikely that they'd be anything less than disappointed. Sure, they'd help, but hesitantly. Her father would shake his head at her, and her mother would rant about how they were worried sick when they found out she was gone. Last she'd heard, her two younger brothers were not the screw-ups that she was; dating nice girls and working good jobs, even if the youngest, Tommy, sometimes slipped back into his old drinking habits.

Jane stood up and wiped the tears from her face and tossed the pregnancy test in the bin. She had to go to work, and her boss wouldn't be too impressed if she were late. Her skin was blue and covered in goose bumps from the cold and she could barely feel her numb feet as she walked across the hard wood flooring to her dresser. She pulled out a clean pair of panties and put them on, smiling at herself in the mirror.

Jane never felt pretty or attractive in anyway until she was wearing a nice pair of panties and a good supportive bra; not in the way that it made her feel or look sexy, because it did. She had a nice body and she knew that. She was fit and even though she had scars flicked over her skin like pale pink paint, she liked her body. She never liked it when a man was touching it, however, because he made her a 'what' rather than a 'who'. He'd run his finger along her skin the way he would a spoiler on a sports car; he'd pin her wrists against the bed as he kissed her neck the way he would grip a new baseball bat; and he'd inhale her scent like it was a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven. Now, these could be seen as good things, but Jane wanted her body to be appreciated as a body.

She wanted her freckles kissed, her scars touched so she could feel the warmth from her lover's fingers, and she wanted to be held not like a child holds their new toy, but the way someone does when they love someone so much, they never want to let them go. Looking into the mirror just wearing her underwear reminded Jane that maybe one day there might just be such a person that will love her for everything she is. Maybe it was a dream; a miracle that would never happen and it would just be her and her poor baby in this world, but there was that sense of hope, and on a day like this, that was what she needed most to keep her going.

She opened her closet door and pulled out her assigned outfit for work: plain black slacks and a brightly coloured button up shirt. Today's colour was blue; a nice kind of blue that reminded her of the ocean. She didn't always feel like 'bright colours', but if she saw something in that colour, such as the ocean for blue, or the leaves of fall for orange, then wearing it seemed like a good thing. Once she was dressed, she slipped on a clean pair of socks and her black sneakers and moved to the bathroom to tame her wild dark hair. She pulled it up and finger-brushed the lumps and bumps out of it and tied it firmly into a ponytail. She applied what little make-up she wore and moved back into the bedroom.

She picked up her bag and, glancing out the window to the gusty streets below, grabbed her coat. She sighed as she looked back around her apartment to see if all the windows were shut. She had gotten back into her routine so well that she forgot that she was pregnant. A look back into the bathroom at the bin brought her happiness level back down and she opened the door to leave. The hallway of her apartment building carried the wind from the street each time someone opened the main door, and someone must've just opened it because a huge gust spread through the building like flooding water and hit Jane front on. She screwed up her face as the frost it brought chilled her to her bones, and resisted the urge to jump back into her apartment and slide under the warm covers of her bed.

She locked her door behind her and headed to the staircase, passing the super on her way down. He paused his whistling to bid her a good morning, hoping that it might cheer her up. "Morning, Vince," she replied, although still in her own world.

"Say, are you working tomorrow?" he asked, stopping on the stairs to face her.

"I am, why?"

"Good, it's just there's a new tenant moving into the apartment across from you and it'll probably be noisy and I'd hate to ruin your day." She nodded her thanks to the kind man and continued down the stairs. One last deep breath in silence before she opened the door to the busy traffic filled streets outside. She almost ran into a kid on his bike on his way to school, but he swerved to miss her at the last minute. She needed to get out of her head and put her worries aside if she was going to make it through the day.

She walked down to the pedestrian crossing at the end of her block and briskly walked down the main road, passing many different walks of life on her way. From children to elder people, taxi drivers to lawyers; she always passed nearly every variety of people there could be in the few short minutes it took her to get to work. They all had their own lives with their own problems and their own friends and family, exactly like Jane, except she'd left all her friends and family back at home four years ago. She wondered if she'd ever find someone that would be there for her at every step of the way. Not even in a romantic sense, just someone that she could call on to talk to or to help her shop for baby supplies.

She pulled a face of pain as the thought hit her. She'd have to spend more of her precious money for her baby. She couldn't very well have it sleeping beside her every night, or maybe she could. She shook her head of the thought, telling herself to worry about that on a day when she didn't have to get to work. She strode on, jumping over manholes on the sidewalk and side-stepping dog owners bending over to pick up their dog's crap. She didn't even have a dog to keep her company; or a cat...or a fish. Just an empty bed and four pregnancy tests in the trash. She made it to her diner just before nine and hurriedly made her way inside where it was instantly warmer. She hung her coat up on the stand and moved behind the counter to place her bag out in the back. Her work colleague Susie was wiping tables when she came back out.

"Hi, Jane," the shorter woman said as she moved to the next table.

"Hi, Susie," she returned as she tied her little apron on around her waist, again remembering the baby that was inside her. "Hey, Sus; we're friends, right?"

"Yeah, Jane."

"Well, I suppose I should tell you I'm pregnant."

"Oh, my god, Jane! Really!?" she exclaimed as she put down her spray and cloth and stepped over to the tall brunette. "That's awesome," she said as she reached out to stroke Jane's arm.

"Yeah, I suppose it is," Jane mumbled through an incredibly fake smile. She knew that she and Susie were only friends because they worked together, but it was still nice to tell someone like it mattered.

"You're not happy about this, are you?"

"It was Casey, and now he's gone and I don't know how the hell I'm supposed to support this baby."

"Look, Jane; I know we aren't besties and that we never see each other outside of work, but if you need help, I'm here."

"Thanks." She knew she should be thankful, but it still felt so superficial somehow. Would she really ask Susie for help? Would Susie even be willing to help? And would she have time? She was putting herself through college anyway, so even if she did want to help, would she be in the middle of a lecture when Jane called, or would she be at her home with her textbook open studying for a major exam that was on the next day. Jane couldn't ruin Susie's chances in life just because she'd already ruined her own. "I'll keep that in mind," Jane finished. She let Susie go back to her cleaning, and Jane started opening the blinds and started the jukebox up with 'wake-up' music. It was a '50s themed diner, and if it wasn't like Arnold's from 'Happy Days', their business would fail.

She flipped over the 'closed' sign to 'open' and she immediately saw a few morning regulars making their way to the door. She slipped behind the counter and knocked on the door to the kitchen letting Sean, the boss and cook, know that people were arriving.

Around 10:30, everything slowed down as most people were at work, and it was that lazy time between breakfast and lunch. Jane went to the phone booth in the corner and pulled the phone book off of the shelf. She flicked it open to find herself an OB/GYN. She knew she'd be paying more money, but she also knew that she wanted to keep this baby. It just wasn't in her nature to kill the innocent, and so she phoned up the doctor that was closest to home and made an appointment for the end of the day. Her OB/GYN was a Doctor Hope Martin, so at least she felt better that it was a woman. She had nothing against men OB/GYNs, but she was kinda sick of the gender at the moment, and she'd feel more comfortable with a woman taking care of her and her baby. She got back to work, washing up plates and cups from the morning and hummed along with Elvis on the jukebox.

Lunch time rolled around pretty quickly and it was busy, just like every day. She wondered why Sean only had two waitresses working at a time when it got so busy, so she made a mental note to mention it to him later, around the time that she told him that she was pregnant. Perhaps she had snuck one too many pickles from the kitchen on her way in and out but after her eighth trip in, he stopped her. "You pregnant, Janie?"

"Y...yes."

"It's okay, just tell me when you need a break." She was a little shocked by his kindness and sincerity but then she remembered that he had kids of his own, so he'd gone through the whole thing before; not from the woman's point of view, of course, but he knew what kind of stress it caused.

"Thanks, boss." She remained in a state of shock until the lunch time rush had settled down and she'd gone back into the kitchen to talk to him. "Sean, I don't want to be a pain in the ass, but I can barely keep myself afloat as it is, and now with a baby coming..."

"Jane, calm down. I've been thinking of giving you and the rest of our waiters and waitresses a raise as the business has been doing really well lately, but if you ever need anything extra just to tie you over, or you need any help, just ask. My wife can easily babysit for you whenever you need her to."

"Thanks"; again confused. "Why are you wanting to help me? You've never been this nice before."

"I don't know if you realise this or not, Jane, but you're not the easiest person to help. You're very independent and I wasn't ever going to offer you help until you needed it. And, kid, right now you need it. I don't know your story, and I doubt you'd tell me if I asked, but I know that you feel alone in this world, but you're not. We're all here to help you, Jane." She almost felt the urge to fall to the floor and cry because all this friendship and kindness had been here all along, but she'd been to lost in her sorrows to ever notice.

"Thank you, Sean." She wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye and moved back into the diner to clear the used crockery.

Jane finished up just after 4pm and walked the dozen blocks to make her appointment, although she really just wanted to go home and climb into bed. Her busy and emotional day, combined with the miserable weather made her want to sleep for a year. She hopped over puddles and dodged dripping drainpipes on her way to the clinic, not wanting to get drenched before she arrived. Her phone rang just as she arrived at the steps to the clinic door, and she quickly answered it, not wanting to be late. "Hello?"

"Hi, Jane. It's Vince."

"Hi, Vince. What's up?"

"I just wanted to let you know that that girl who is moving in across from you arrived today instead of tomorrow; something about not being able to wait one more day to get away from her nagging parents, so there might still be some moving people here when you get home."

"Thanks, Vince. I've got to go; I've got a doctor's appointment."

"You're not sick are you?"

"No, I'm pregnant." Somehow telling people now didn't seem so much like a drag as it had earlier that day.

"Congrats, Jane! Well, good luck," he said.

"Okay; bye."

"Bye." She slipped her phone into her coat pocket and stepped into the clinic, grateful that there were other people in there that looked a hell of a lot worse than she did. She told the nurse at the counter who she was and who she was there to see and was told to take a seat while she waited and to fill out some forms. She handed in her forms, reluctantly, knowing that this was it. She was now officially a patient there and that they would be taking payments out of her bank account to pay for each appointment she had. "I've only known you for two days and already you're using my credit card," she whispered to her tummy.

Her appointment went smoothly; her doctor was very sweet and knowledgeable and made her feel very calm about the whole situation. Dr Martin was a well postured woman in her fifties with a sweet blonde haircut like Farrah Fawcett with big eyes and a very reassuring smile. Jane had a good feeling about this, humming to herself on her way home after being told for the hundredth time it seemed by the kind doctor that "everything will be fine". Yesterday, she would have seriously doubted that, but today, it actually seemed possible.


	2. Chapter 2

The late afternoon frost whispered through the open window of Maura's living room. She was standing barefoot on the hardwood floors in the kitchen of her new apartment; her first apartment. She wriggled her toes in excitement; stretching up onto the balls of her feet and clasping her hands tightly in front of her. She spun her upper body around to flick on the kitchen light; its warm rays glowing through her new home. She strode over to the window and pulled it closed before breathing on the glass. She drew a simple smile in the fogged up portion and moved to her suitcase to begin unpacking her clothes and personal items.

She'd helped hauling all of her new furniture upstairs that day and she had placed a bamboo divider between her bed and her new three seater sofa. Both pieces of furniture sat snugly in opposite corners of the open apartment with the kitchen in view of both. She could have very well afforded a bigger, more grand apartment with what her parents had given her when she had told them that she wanted to move, but decided that she didn't need a three bedroom, two bathroom condo to get by. All she needed was a bed, a bathroom and a kitchen. She was an art student and didn't feel as if she'd get inspiration from IKEA like furniture. She wanted to see the world and how people survived in it.

She wanted to see life in all its splendour.

She placed a framed photograph by her bed of her parents and a few other decorative pieces around the place, but other than that, all she had to keep her company were her drawings. She liked leaning them against the wall rather that framing and hanging them. It made her feel more bohemian and true to her artistic self. Maura Isles had always loved drawing whenever she could. She'd draw a landscape that she saw out of the car window when her family went on holidays, or a lazing cat as it warmed itself in the sun, but what she loved most was drawing the human body. She'd draw hands; fascinated by the dexterity of each individual digit. She'd draw the muscles of someone's bare back; intrigued by how they would ripple under the skin. She'd draw a woman's eye, framed precisely by coal black eyeliner; beguiled as to how the iris really did seem to twinkle when she smiled.

She used to draw her university professor while she lectured on the brush strokes of Van Gogh and the colour contrasts used by Monet. Maura was in love with her professor; well, at least she thought it was love. They'd flirt and smile and grab a coffee after the lesson finished and it all made Maura feel like she belonged somewhere. They'd kiss and touch and make love in the dead of night when Maura was supposed to be in her own bed but was instead in an older woman's. She really thought that she was happy but then something happened, and it all went horribly wrong.

Now she was going to attend a new university in a new city away from all the chaos her heart had caused back in New York. She could start fresh and not be worried about running into people from her past. Everyone was new and that was exciting.

While she was moving in, she'd chatted with the super, Vince and he had told her about her neighbours. Around the corner there was a young man, Barry who was a bit of a ladies man, so she should be careful around him; and right across from her was a woman about her age called Jane. He confided in her saying that Jane had moved to Chicago a few years ago, but in that time he had never seen her bring any friends or potential suitors home.

So as soon as Maura was finished unpacking and maybe had a bite to eat, she would go over and introduce herself to this Jane, hoping that they could be friends. She was arranging her drawings around her apartment, making sure that they were not clumped all in the same space. For once, she was glad she never drew her professor's face; this way she could pretend that it was just a random person, not someone she knew and had loved. She also made sure that any of her were not near her bed, lest she wake in the middle of the night and catch a glimpse of her long cascading blonde hair in the lamplight from the street. Maura was shoving her empty suitcase under her bed when she heard a knock at her door.

"My first guest," she whispered with anticipation, yet still knowing that it would be a perfect stranger. She walked over to the door and peered through the peephole (something she'd always wanted to do) and gazed upon one of the most heavenly creatures she had ever seen. She flung open the door and trailed her eyes down the long body of her new neighbour.

"Hello, I'm Jane. I'm your neighbour," the lanky brunette hummed, her voice deep and raspy, giving Maura a tingle down her spine.

"Uh, hi. I'm Maura," she struggled. She stood frozen for a second, still fixated on Jane's never ending body of "wow". Jane dipped her head to catch Maura's eye, and cleared her throat. "Sorry," she whispered, embarrassed, and stepped aside for Jane to enter. "You're my first guest." Jane chuckled low in her throat as she passed the shorter woman.

"Wow, did you do these?" Jane asked, pointing at one of Maura's perfectly detailed drawings sitting by the door.

"Yeah, I'm an art student." Maura closed the door and walked towards her kitchen, stopping half way when she realised that she had nothing to offer. "I'm sorry; I don't have anything to offer you."

"Don't apologise. I suppose you haven't had time to shop yet. I saw the deliverers leaving just as I got home and I hadn't seen you go out, so..."

"Have you been watching me, Jane?" Maura joked, rocking awkwardly on the sides of her feet. Jane rubbed her face, feeling a rosy blush creep up her neck and into her cheeks. She _had_ in fact been watching her new neighbour. She'd only caught a glimpse of her over a deliverer's shoulder as she was paying him, but in that split second, her heart, her mind, her everything flipped. The way she had her shoulder length blonde hair tucked behind her ears; the way she rocked nervously on her feet, just like she was right now; the glimmer of joy in her eyes when she chuckled at something the deliverer said. It was only a second, but it felt like an hour. A similar hour that was now growing longer as she was noticing other sweet details of the art student's being. A splash of freckles on an exposed shoulder; a nervous bite of her lip as she waited for Jane's response... oh! Her response.

Jane shook her head to rid her mind of her new neighbour's appearance and racked her brain for a suitable answer. "Ah, well. You're pretty and I'd hate for Barry to make a move on you the second you moved in, so I was just watching out for him. Did Vince warn you about him?"

"Yes," Maura answered quickly, liking that Jane thought she was pretty.

"Well," Jane mumbled, cracking her knuckles in front of her. "I haven't got anything in my fridge to eat either, so do you want to go grab a slice of pizza with me?"

"Ah, yeah, sure," Maura answered as she moved over to her bed to pull out a pair of sneakers from underneath it.

"I could show you where the nearest supermarket is too, if you like."

"That'd be great, thanks." Maura stood and grabbed her woolly sweater from the foot of her bed and pulled it over her head, slightly messing up her hair. Jane opened the door for her and slipped into her own apartment quickly to grab her bag and coat and then joined Maura at the top of the stairs. About half way down they ran into Vince who was on his way up to fix a blocked toilet and stopped to check if Maura was settled in alright. "Yeah, I am thanks."

"Well, don't forget that you can call me anytime day or night if something's wrong."

"Thanks, Vince. I'm sure it will all be fine." With that, the older man continued his way up the stairs and Jane led Maura down to the exit.

"You can always ask me, too, if something's up. My dad was a mechanic and plumber so I know how to fix most things. I don't think Vince has ever been called up to mine or Barry's apartment. I usually fix whatever's not working."

"You're friends with Barry?"

"That way he hits on me less often. If I show him up, he gets intimidated and I don't think he wants to date someone who intimidates him." Maura laughed at that, but closed her mouth to the cold as the big front door swung open under Jane's shove and the night air, quickly becoming very icy chilled her to her bones. She'd have to remember to wear a coat next time she went out. Jane buttoned up her own coat and the two women walked briskly to the pizza shop down the block. As they entered, the heat from the wood fire oven almost made them sweat. Jane unbuttoned her coat and ran her hand through her wild hair, shaking it loose behind her head. "What do you want?" Jane asked, looking up at the menu above the kitchen.

"Um... I'll just have whatever you're having."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, whatever you're getting is fine by me," Maura shrugged.

"Okay," Jane said. "Hi, can we have a half meat lovers and a half pepperoni, please."

"A whole pizza?" Maura asked, nudging Jane's elbow with her own.

"It's cheaper than just buying two pieces, and that way there's leftovers for lunch the next day." Maura tilted her head, realising that if she doesn't want to spend all her money and risk moving back in with her parents, then she'd best learn some of these tips from Jane. They took a seat at one of the high tables in the corner and waited for their order.

"So what do you do for a living, Jane?" Small talk was never her specialty, but it seemed kind of natural with someone who was as... alone in this world as she was.

"I'm a waitress at a diner a couple of blocks from here."

"Nice. Do you like it?"

"It's alright."

"Is the pay good?"

"Ha, not really; but my boss is nice and he's giving everyone raises soon 'cause we're doing well, apparently. I'm not really trained in anything else, so I'd be an idiot to leave."

"What did you want to do when you were a kid?"

"My brothers and I always used to play cops and robbers and I was always the cop, so I thought I'd liked to have done that."

"But..."

"But one day I wanted to play the robber, and I think I liked it too much, 'cause I sort of started a bad habit." Maura looked at her a little confused. "I used to graffiti things and pick pocket when I was a teenager."

"Oh."

"Yeah, not a good thing for a cop." She laughed it off, but Maura could tell that Jane regretted it, feeling as if it had ruined her chances at bettering herself.

"Well, at least you stopped," Maura tried to offer.

"Not soon enough."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Jane shrugged, so Maura left it, not wanting to create any friction when she'd just made a friend in a city where she knew absolutely no one. They were silent for a few minutes, just enjoying the warmth of the pizza parlour. Maura began to tap her fingernails on the table edge, feeling tension grow between them. Jane could feel it too, and didn't want it to get to awkward, so she cleared her throat. "The nearest supermarket is at the end of the block," she said, pointing. Maura nodded in the direction that Jane indicated, as if making a mental note, but suddenly noticed Jane leaning over to her, so she looked back.

"What are you doing?"

"I think you can see the sign," she mumbled. "Yeah, see the blue and green lights?" Maura looked back out the window, feeling a little stupid at thinking Jane was making a move. _You've just met her, you idiot. Don't ruin this._

"Oh, yeah; I see them." Jane sat back up and drummed her fingers on her legs, realising that she probably didn't need to lean in _that_ far to see the sign. She'd caught a whiff of Maura's hair as she was leaning over and found that she couldn't quite stop. She gripped her thigh under the table and closed her eyes, telling herself to stop. She was just lonely, that was all.

"Vanilla! Pizza's up!"

"Thanks, Rondo," Jane said as she grabbed the pizza box from the man and handed him a twenty.

"Why does he call you 'Vanilla'?" Maura questioned as they stepped back out onto the blustery street.

"When I first got here," Jane started, leaning in to Maura so that she didn't have to yell. "I came down every week to grab a pizza and I hadn't gotten used to how cold you could get after only three minutes outside. My skin was white from the cold, so he started calling me Vanilla."

"But why 'Vanilla'?"

"He tried Snowy and Frosty and even Ice Bitch when I was in a particularly grumbly mood, but I kept giving him looks like I was going to kill him, so he settled for something a little sweeter." Maura giggled as she brushed up against the taller woman's side. They shuffled along a little longer until they arrived at their apartment building and Maura pushed her weight against the heavy wooden door until it swooshed open. She shook herself to regain some warmth before jumping two steps at a time up the stair case until she was outside her apartment. She got out her key and was about to unlock her door when she remembered the box of cutlery and crockery sitting on her kitchen top.

"Uh, Jane, I haven't gotten any plates or anything out yet."

"That's okay, we use hands," she emphasized by wiggling the fingers on her spare hand.

"Well, I don't have any serviettes," Maura tried to argue. She much preferred to not spill anything on herself. Sure, she got herself covered in pencil led all the time, but pizza stains on her nice woolly jumper would take a month of Sundays to get out.

"Come on; I have paper towels," Jane chuckled, digging in her pant pocket for her key. She fished it out and unlocked her door, flicking the light switch on beside it. Maura closed the door behind her as she moved in, taking in the appearance of Jane's apartment. Where hers was filled with warm colours and blankets, Jane's felt just as cold as it did outside.

"Why don't you have any blankets?" Maura asked, feeling the need to wrap herself up and sit in front of a fire.

"I do... on my bed," Jane said, pointing to the one blanket on her messily made bed.

"I'm going to buy you some blankets to have around," Maura stated as she moved closer to the detective who was slouched on the couch with her feet up on the coffee table, a piece of pepperoni pizza dangling from her fingertips. "Jane, can I use your bathroom, please?"

"Sure," Jane mumbled, swallowing a hunk of pizza. "Just around there," she pointed past the end of her bed. Maura kicked off her sneakers and left them by the legs of the coffee table and shuffled into the bathroom. She always believed in washing her hands before a meal, because who knows how many germs she had picked up in their short trip to the pizza place and back; probably a million different types. Her mother was a doctor and always scared her as a child, not with horror stories, but with stories of deadly bacteria that would eat away at her flesh. She cringed at the memory, and turned off the tap. She reached around to the hand towel which was hanging off the side of the vanity, near the bin. She shook her head at how her mother would say that was unsanitary as well, but then something caught her eye in the bin.

She squatted down and tried as best she could to get a better look at it without having to pick it up, but gave in, picking up a tissue between her fingernails. She gasped as she saw the pregnancy test reading positive, and then another buried beneath that one. "You alright in there, Maura?" she heard Jane call from the lounge. She stood back up and quickly washed her hands again and decided to keep quiet. It wasn't her place to call Jane out, because, after all, they had just met. If Jane wanted to tell her that she was pregnant, she would do so once their friendship had progressed a bit. But Maura did know that whatever happened, she would be the friend that Jane needed and would be there for her.

* * *

**A/N Thanks guys for such nice reviews :) I hope y'all like this chapter! xo**


	3. Chapter 3

**THREE**

Maura wriggled her toes under her covers, cracking the knuckles. She was positively livid with herself. She was sweating despite the below freezing winds howling outside her window, and she could feel tears of anger burning in her eyes. Why did she go through Jane's trash? That wasn't like Maura; that wasn't who she was. She didn't go looking through people's things when her curiosity was spiked. She ignored those inklings and waited for whatever was bothering her to find its way to the surface and for that person to tell her.

She furrowed her eyebrows to the black vastness of the night and begged for an answer. Why? All she wanted to know was why, because she knew she had to tell Jane the next time she saw her. It would eat away at her otherwise. They'd had dinner in relative silence with the television on playing reruns of some show; Maura wasn't concentrating. She answered questions when Jane asked her, trying not to let the atmosphere dull out. She'd told her that she was from New York and that she grew up in Manhattan, although her family wasn't 'rich' rich, but they had money.

But when Jane asked why she moved, she just said that it was time and nothing more. She left pretty soon after they finished eating whatever pizza they could fit in, and Jane gave her half of what was left so she headed across the chilly hall to her apartment. She'd meant to finish unpacking things so that she could go exploring tomorrow, but she'd just placed the pizza in the fridge and stripped down to her underwear and jumped into bed. She pulled the covers up to her ears and sighed, wishing that what she'd done was a bad dream.

She furrowed her eyebrows again. It was so 'not Maura' and she honestly had no idea why she'd done it. She must've thought on it for hours before she dropped off into a light and rather restless sleep; not exactly what she'd hoped for, for her first night in a new city. She heard the stirrings of the city waking up on the street below as the first hazy light of day streamed in through her windows and filtered through her thin curtains. She sighed heavily; her eyes still closed, and let out her breath with a small grumble. She was still as frustrated with herself for last night as she _was_ last night, and had an adrenaline rushed kicking fit until her covers fell to the floor. The cool air bit at her exposed skin and she whined as she sat up and pulled her covers back onto her bed.

Maura looked at her bedside clock and figured that she'd may as well stay up as it was just after seven-thirty. She reached back to the floor and picked up her sweater from yesterday and pulled it over her head. She got out of bed and winced as the floor almost instantly numbed her feet. She tip toed to her bathroom and washed her face, splashing some excess water at her own bin when she saw it in the corner, almost taunting her. She pulled her knotty blonde hair into a loose bun at the back of her head and walked back into her room to open her closet. She picked up a pair of black sweatpants and pulled them on before hearing a noise outside.

She shuffled over to the door, the legs of her pants puddling at her feet as they sat loosely on her hips. She peered through the peephole and saw what she expected to be Barry leaning against Jane's door frame. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties and had the yummiest shade of chocolate for skin. She mentally added chocolate to her shopping list for today. It seemed as if he'd just returned from an early morning run; the patch of sweat at the back of his sweater showing he was a bit of a fitness buff. He turned to his side and laughed at something Jane said, a mouth full of perfect white teeth shining through the misery of Maura's morning.

Suddenly, Barry stood up straight and moved back to his apartment, leaving Jane at her door. She looked at Maura's door, and although Maura knew Jane couldn't see her, she ducked away from the peep hole. She felt like a guilty child hiding from their mother, and she hated that because, one, she was a 22 year old woman, and, two, her mother wasn't even in the same state as her anymore. She always felt growing up that no matter where she was, if she did something wrong, her mother would know or would find out very soon, so little Maura tried to be good. And even though there was over a thousand miles between the two Isles women, Maura was sure that her mother would find out somehow and do her trademark motherly shake of the head with a few 'tisks', and then the low toned line of, "Maura; I'm very disappointed in you."

Maura shook her mother out of her head and stood back up to look out of the peep hole. Jane was closing the door to head back inside and Maura instinctively opened her door and called out. "Jane, wait!"

"Oh, hi Maura," the tall brunette said, trying to smile through tired eyes.

"Oh, you were going back to bed, weren't you? I'm so sorry. I'll talk to you later," she rambled.

"Maura, it's okay. Barry actually woke me up. He thought I'd like to join him for an early morning run."

"He looked like he'd already been for a run."

"You saw him?"

"Yeah, I heard you two talking so I looked through the peep hole," she confessed, a little embarrassed.

"He asks me at least once a month if I'd like to run with him, but I don't run when it's freezing outside. I just don't feel up to it."

"Me neither," Maura agreed, leaning against her door frame as Jane did against hers. It felt natural between them again.

"When were you going shopping?"

"Today sometime. Why?"

"I finish work at noon, so I could swing by and we could go together if you like?"

"I'd like that."

"We'll have to be careful though; 'cause Barry always asks me if I want to go shopping with him, and I always say no, or that I've already done it."

"Does he just flirt too much? I saw him flirting with you before. He's very... full of himself."

"He is."

"But he's got the nicest skin."

"Doesn't he? It's like chocolate!"

"That's what I thought!" Maura laughed.

"But seriously, I wish he would stop flirting. Three years of it, and I always say no. You'd think he'd get the hint."

"Yeah, I mean, you could just tell him you're pregnant," Maura joked.

"Yeah... wait," Jane stopped, standing up straight. Maura's eyes went wide and she clamped her hand over her mouth. She stood up from the wall and hunched her shoulders as she placed her other hand over her mouth as well. "How do you know I'm pregnant?" Now, if Maura could lie, she could just fake that she _didn't_ know and that she was just kidding around and had no idea whatsoever that Jane was actually pregnant.

Too bad she can't lie.

"Oh, my god, Jane; I'm sorry," she tried to backtrack.

"How do you know? Did Vince tell you?" Again, if only Maura Isles could lie.

"I saw the pregnancy tests in your bin last night when I went to wash my hands."

"Oh," Jane said, ready to drop it as it seemed like a complete coincidence. But Maura knew that she was still lying.

"I actually couldn't see it, but I was curious, so I-"

"You went through my trash!?" Maura opened her mouth to explain, but nothing came out. "Who does that? And we just met; it's not like we've been friends for ages; we're complete strangers!"

"Jane, I'm sorry, but..."

"But, what?" Jane said, trying, but failing hopelessly, to keep her voice low. Maura opened her mouth again, but silence. "What, no excuse?"

"I don't have one!" she argued, but the look on Jane's face looked like she'd just been slapped.

"You don't have one?"

"I don't know why I did it. I don't do that; it's not like me! I just don't know!" Her eyes shifted from Jane's, to her crossed arms in front of her, to her bare feet going white from the cold, and back up to her eyes; her angry, yet sad eyes. "I'm so sorry, Jane." Jane didn't say anything, but her frown remained, crinkling her pretty forehead. She looked at her watch and turned to go back inside. "Jane!" Maura called, not wanting it to end like this.

"I have to go to work, Maura." And with that, the door closed and Maura was left alone and cold in the hall. She retreated back into her apartment when she heard doors opening downstairs and down the hall. She felt so many things at once; she wanted to cry and punch things; to drink heavily and pass out; to crawl back into her bed and smother herself in pillows.

She dropped to her knees facing the closed doors that separated her from what could have been a great friend and cried. Long, shuddering sobs that took all of her breath away, and she didn't know why. She'd known Jane for no more than twelve hours, but she felt like she'd just lost someone she'd known all her life. She pulled herself up and wandered over to her bed. She stared at it for a moment or two, not quite knowing what to do. She wanted to crawl under the covers and huddle into her pillows, but with this intense feeling of sick in her tummy, it didn't seem like such a good idea.

She picked up her phone from her bedside table and walked over to her sofa. She slouched into it and pulled a blanket from the arm of it over her feet. She could see out the window and see the sky through the morning fog and smoke. It was cheery and blue; so betraying to her feelings at the moment. She scrolled through her phonebook until she reached 'Mother' and dialled. After three short rings she heard a familiar, yet sleepy voice answer.

"Maura, it's eight in the morning on a Saturday. Go back to sleep."

"I made a friend, Mother."

"Good for you, baby, no go back to bed."

"And then I fucked it up."

"Maura!" That woke her up. Maura smiled at her devious self, although it was the perfect word for what she'd done.

"Sorry, but I did."

"It's alright, darling. We all make mistakes."

"What; no "I'm disappointed in you" talk?"

"Darling, I know I said that a lot when you were growing up, and I only said that because I felt so terribly upset, but you have blossomed into a beautiful young woman, and I have never truly been disappointed in you."

"Thank you, Mother."

"And if you really want to be friends with this person, then you will find a way to fix it. Whenever your father upset me, he learned after a while to just say sorry and mean it."

"He learned?"

"Men are clueless, darling. They need to learn." Maura chuckled, feeling a little better after her mother put things into perspective.

"I do want to be friends with her."

"Oh, it's a 'her'?"

"Mother, have you ever known me to care about a friendship with a man this intensely after one day?"

"You're right. What's her name?"

"Jane."

"Very sweet. Is she attractive?"

"Mother!"

"Well, is she, or isn't she? I already know she is, but I'd like to hear you say it," Maura's mother calmly stated.

"She is," Maura said after a dramatic sigh. "Very," she added at the end in a very hushed tone.

"Just don't let her hurt you like that professor of yours did."

"Weren't you disappointed in me about that?"

"What? That you snuck out of the house in the middle of the night, or made up field trips just so that you could stay at her place for a few nights?"

"All of it..." Maura said, feeling regret for how she'd acted.

"Sweetheart, you were in love."

"Was I? I'm not too sure."

"You were; you just fell for the wrong person. But don't let that deter you from falling again. If you like this Jane, then you apologise and learn from your mistakes."

"Thank you, Mother. I love you."

"I love you, too, my darling Maura. Now go to sleep."

"Yes, dear," Maura obeyed, then hung up, hearing her mother's chuckle at the end of the line. She placed her phone down beside her and sighed. She heard the traffic of the street below, and decided to open her window to gaze out. She pulled her curtains aside, opened the window and leaned out. The warm rays of sun kissed her skin, warming it against the cold breeze and looked down to the people starting their mornings; walking dogs, buying groceries, some unlucky ones off to work. Among them was Jane who pushed open the heavy apartment building door and walked out onto the pavement. Her dark wild hair caught Maura's eye immediately as she marched past the weekenders on her way to the diner down the road. Maura followed Jane with her eyes until she rounded the corner and vanished, off until she returned at around noon.

"I suppose I'll be shopping alone today," she said to herself as she pulled herself back inside and moved to the fridge to have her pizza for breakfast.


	4. Chapter 4

**FOUR**

The supermarket that Jane had pointed her to was much larger than Maura had expected. She thought it would be a little corner convenience store, but when she stepped inside, it spanned out in front of her like a maze. They didn't just have your usual groceries and health products; there was a section off to the side that had home wares and along the back wall there was clothing. It had the young artist rather bamboozled and it wasn't until an elderly lady cleared her throat behind her, letting her know she was blocking the entrance, did she step aside and begin her shopping. It was more than a supermarket, Maura deduced. It was a whole shopping centre crammed into three of Maura's apartments put together.

Up each aisle she travelled, filling her basket with what she'd need for the next few days. She decided that since it was so close, she could afford to make two or even three trips to the supermarket a week instead of doing one big shop. She placed a family block of chocolate into her basket and moved back to the front to the checkout. It was a fairly busy place, so all four checkouts were swamped, the lines waiting for them growing longer and longer.

_Saturday shopping_, Maura mused. She made a mental note to _not_ do her shopping on Saturday due to the severe chaos that was building, and it wasn't even noon yet. With her basket hanging in the bend of her elbows, she tapped her foot and hummed along to the music she could faintly hear playing over the speakers. A slight commotion to her left drew her attention, but it faded away just as quickly as it had started. Maura continued looking over to her left however, as she could see a shelf stacked with plush woollen blankets and remembered how she'd told Jane she would buy her some to warm up her apartment.

She slipped out of line and made her way over to the shelf and placed her basket down to have a better look. She pulled out a big woollen one with a tartan pattern, but decided that Jane would probably appreciate a less itchy one, so she put it back. Next, she pulled out a fluffy one that felt a little like mattered dog hair. She didn't like it, so she placed it back. She walked to the other end of the shelf, running her fingers along the different materials until she found one that was soft enough. Suddenly her fingers graced upon the softest warmth she had felt in a long time. She stopped and picked up the blanket in question and immediately pressed her cheek to it. Its softness was unbelievably addictive and she just knew that no one could turn away such a soft item.

She flipped it around to find the tag and gasped when she saw the price. It was a little more expensive than she'd hoped but it was a "mink blanket" after all. Maura whistled silently to herself as she placed that pale blue one back on the shelf and grabbed out a white one and a red one. She tucked them under her arms and picked up her basket, humming along with the merry tune on the radio once again. She smiled at the checkout girl, noting that she was quite pretty, but decided against any flirting. The girl had a cheeky smile and piercing green eyes that shone like an ocean against the pale gold sand of her hair. She reminded Maura too much of her old professor, so she felt a bit on edge.

She smiled when she was handed her receipt, but quickly gathered up her three bags, and stepped out into the oddly warm sun of the day. It had been so cold and windy yesterday that today's summery warmth was a bit confusing. She nodded her thanks to the man who held the supermarket door open for her and again to the tenant who stayed back by the front door of her apartment building just those few extra moments for Maura to slip into the building. She trudged upstairs, feeling hot and short of breath in her woolly sweater, but reached the top nonetheless. She placed down one bag to open her door, and then pulled it in after she had placed the other two in the kitchen.

She sat the one with Jane's new blankets down on the floor by the kitchen counter as she unpacked the other two. She placed her meat in the freezer and her fruit and vegetables on the bottom shelf of her fridge, then placed her block of chocolate in the shelf of the door before closing it and scrunching up the empty bags and pushing them into what she called a ''bag' bag'. She might need to reuse them again at a later date, so she kept them. She'd always done that when she was growing up. Her mother had said she would become a hoarder, but whenever her parents needed some material of some sort and couldn't get their hands on it, Maura always had exactly what she needed. She used to also save wrapping paper so that she could use it again or make collage like cards for birthdays or special events.

She went to her cupboard and pulled out a strip of said saved wrapping paper that had a faint spiral pattern on it and grabbed a black marker. She simply wrote 'sorry' across it and then taped it to the bag with Jane's blankets in it. She picked up the bag and carried it over to her door, and when she looked at her watch and noticed that it was nearly midday, she carried it over to Jane's door. She placed it down in front of it making sure her 'sorry' note was facing outwards and stepped back into her apartment to make herself some lunch.

Jane walked up the stairs to her apartment about a half an hour later with a full and heavy grocery bag under her arm. Wearing a heavy coat as she expected it to be a cool and brisk day like the day before, made it a little more tiresome. Thank god it was the middle of the day; Barry would be in his apartment watching sports instead of hanging around ready to hit on some unsuspecting girl. On occasion, he would hear Jane grumbling as she made her way upstairs and he would slip out to help her, a rather gentlemanly act, if it wasn't for him commenting her on her perfume or the way she'd done her hair, or asking what moisturiser she used because "damn, your hands look mighty soft." She always did her hair the same way; she hardly ever wore perfume unless it was on a date or for something of importance; and she only used moisturiser in the form of hand cream for those extremely dry days that would make her knuckles crack.

The lanky brunette with only slightly cracked knuckles made her way upstairs as quietly as she could despite the few creaking steps and fiddled with her keys until she had the one for her apartment. She held it out, but stopped when she noticed the bag at her feet. She sighed as she unlocked her door, seeing the 'sorry' note and nudged it into the apartment with her foot, too lazy to bend over to pick it up. She closed her door behind her, liking how for once the bitter cold didn't chill her to the bones, but instead a nice warm stream of sunlight danced across her skin. She placed her grocery bag on the kitchen counter and started unpacking it. She knew who the other bag was from, and she knew why that person was sorry. But they weren't the only person who was sorry.

Jane had felt bad about yelling at Maura all day. It picked at her mind like a scab taunting her with "you could've been good friends", "you overreacted" and "she didn't mean to. She just wanted to be there for you." She'd pushed away these thoughts all day and tried to work, but when it came to finishing time and she was heading to the supermarket to do her shopping, she'd hoped that she wouldn't run into Maura. She rounded each corner like she was guilty of something, fearing that if she did see the short blonde that she'd have to fake anger to get by. She didn't want to do that. She'd felt angry when Maura had told her; of course she did. She had reason to. But after that died away all she could feel was a twisted form of relief.

When she first saw Maura, she'd thought she was gorgeous; she knew she was gorgeous, and she wanted so badly to be her friend; to have someone that was just across the hall that was sweet, and kind, and had a bubbly personality and that would make her feel, just by their presence, that everything was going to be okay. She'd felt relieved that Maura had found out about her pregnancy by herself, because Jane didn't want to tell her and seem like a pity case; like the only reason she was befriending the art student was so that she didn't have to go through this pregnancy alone. That was, in a way, a small part of it, but she still wanted to come out the other end with Maura as her friend.

She scrunched up her empty grocery bag and binned it, then moved over to the bag left by Maura. She picked it up and carried it to the edge of her bed, running her fingers along the soft material inside. She sat it down and pulled out the first blanket and revelled in how it felt gliding through her fingertips. She brought it up to her face and sighed as its softness graced her skin. She pulled out the red one from the bag and did the same, then looked around for somewhere to keep them. She tossed the white one across the foot of her bed, and carried the red one over to her beige two seater couch. She tossed it over the armrest and turned back to dispose of the bag. Once she'd done that she moved back over to her couch to snuggle up in the blanket for a bit. She pulled it around her like a cocoon and hunkered down into the few pillows she had scattered there.

That's when she spied the tag. She read it over, pulling a face of impression when she saw that it was mink, but then gasped in shock when she saw the price tag. She bounded off the couch and marched out of her apartment then thumped on Maura's door until the short blonde was standing in front of her.

"Sixty bucks?!" she practically screamed as she shook the blanket violently in front of her.

"Oops; I forgot to take off the price tag," Maura mumbled to herself.

"Maura, I can't take this. It cost you too much."

"Don't be silly," Maura said as she grabbed Jane's wrist, making her stop. "I was an asshole, and I know two blankets isn't going to fix that, but your place does feel really cold, so this is just a 'thanks for being nice to me' gift."

"I was going to be nice to you anyway; you didn't need to buy me stuff," Jane said, holding out the blanket again.

"Look, Jane; just take it, okay?"

"I'm sorry," Jane whispered as she lowered her hands.

"It's okay, Jane; I really want you to have them."

"No, I mean I'm sorry I overreacted this morning."

"Oh, you didn't overreact, Jane. I... It was rude of me to do that; to go through your rubbish. You would've probably told me anyway, sometime."

"That's the thing; I don't know if I would've."

"Well, I would have found out eventually."

"I know, I mean, I didn't want you to think that I was just being nice to you so that I wouldn't be alone in this."

"I wouldn't have thought that, Jane."

"Really?" Jane asked as she leaned against Maura's door frame.

"Really. I would've thought that you were just being nice to me 'cause I was the new girl." Jane laughed as she threw a friendly punch at Maura's shoulder, softened by the blanket. Maura rocked her shoulder back a bit as she laughed and then rocked forward towards Jane so that they were closer than they were before. Maura looked up at Jane's perfect smile and sighed as she felt her heartbeat quicken. "Have you had lunch yet?" she asked in a hushed tone, like what she was asking was a secret.

"No, not yet," Jane responded, her voice hushed as well. She dug her fingertips into the soft blanket as her palms grew sweaty and her mind became hazy. Maura's lips moved so angelically as she spoke, and it was absolutely mesmerising to Jane.

"Well, I was just making myself some mac and cheese, if you wanted some," she suggested, licking her lips.

"Okay, yeah," Jane said, standing up and moving back. She had no idea what had just transpired between the two young women, but she knew she had to stop it. "I'll just put this blanket back," and with that she smiled and turned back into her apartment. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, bringing her hand to her mouth in confusion. After a second she dropped it away and shook her head. "What the fuck just happened?" she asked to her empty apartment.

Jane had never felt attracted to a woman before. Sure, she knew her gender was gorgeous and could be alluring and seductive, but she'd never personally felt the attraction. The closest she ever felt was envy of some of the more popular girls at school because they had the nicest and hottest boyfriends and had money and were given a car for their birthday, whereas Jane had no boyfriend, no money, and was given the family car to drive on weekends; an old Ford pick-up truck. Real sexy. All of those girls were too skinny and fake with their hair extensions and manicured nails. Jane was more likely to tackle a guy in football than date one, and that's how it had always been. Jane had only one female friend at high school and that was Grace, or as she was dubbed (due to the four years of orthodontics), Brace Face Grace. 'How original' she always spat back at the bullies who tormented her friend.

Jane had liked one boy at school but he was dating the head cheerleader, so Jane made herself get over him quickly, even though he was one of the few who was actually a nice human being towards everyone, despite what they looked like or how much money they had. It always annoyed the sporty brunette how such a nice guy would want to date such a tramp. Sex. She decided that it was sex. Whatever, Jane thought. She'd meet a nice guy out in the real world when she could afford to have her eyebrows shaped and her acne would clear up. But no, every guy she'd ever dated was a tool and expected her to be barefoot and pregnant if they were to be together. Well, one had gotten her pregnant but hadn't stayed around to follow that through, so now she was where she was: pregnant in a small open studio apartment, feeling so passionately attracted to her female neighbour.

It was confusing and daunting to think that she had these feelings, but in a way, it made sense. Maybe the reason why it had never worked with the men was because Jane was destined to like the women. She shook the thought from her mind, remembering that she'd just said she'd have lunch with said attractive neighbour, and that leaning against her door pondering the meaning of her sexual existence was probably wasting time. She hurriedly tossed her new red blanket over the side of the couch, making a mental note to cut the tags off later, and opened her draw to grab out a more comfortable top. She grabbed an old Chicago Cubs sweater that her dad had given her and kicked off her shoes so that she was just in her socks. She dashed into the bathroom and pulled out her hair, then ruffled it until it fell somewhat nicely.

She then slid over to her door on her socks and opened it. She took a calming breath and closed it behind her before knocking on Maura's. She smiled to herself as it felt good not to have any tension between them anymore, at least not angry tension. She knocked again when Maura didn't come, but then the door swung open between knocks.

"Hey," Maura said, licking some mac and cheese off her fingers. Jane made herself look away as she had no idea just what would turn her on at this point. "I just spilt some mac and cheese on myself," Maura explained as she let Jane in. "Mind if I go change?"

"Nah, that's fine," Jane said as she moved over to the kitchen counter, the smell of warm food drawing her in. Maura slipped away to change her shirt that had a big splodge of food on it and returned a minute later with a tight fitting top on. Jane sighed to herself, feeling a little helpless as she noticed how the shirt hugged Maura's curves.

"You okay?" Maura asked, a little concerned.

"Yeah," Jane said, shaking her head. "Just hungry."

"Well, let's eat then." Jane smiled as she handed Maura a bowl of mac and cheese and picked up her own to follow the blonde to the couch.


	5. Chapter 5

**FIVE**

Jane eyed her fridge, knowing there was a six pack of beer in there, just wanting to be drunk, but also knowing that there was a tiny person growing inside of her kept her cemented in her bed. She'd had a great lunch with Maura. They'd chatted the whole time, even when their mouths were full, which caused a few messes. Jane had told Maura about her work and how many times a week she worked and when she worked, in case Maura wanted to come down to see her; and Maura had told Jane about her drawings, and even asked if she could draw Jane.

"You have amazing cheek bones, Jane; please," Maura begged.

"My cheekbones are just... cheekbones," Jane had argued. The first thing she'd done when she got home was look at herself in her bathroom mirror. "They're just cheekbones." Now she was just lying in the afternoon sun tanning her feet. Wearing shoes and socks nearly all the time whenever she was outside had given her a ridiculous tan line that she just _had_ to get rid of. She glanced over at her fridge again. She bought the beer the day before she took her first pregnancy test. Ever since then she'd given a long, exasperated sigh whenever she opened the door to grab some food.

She wondered if Maura liked drinking beer. She sprung off her bed and stomped over to the fridge, grabbed the beer and made her way over to Maura's. She knocked gently on the door so that Maura wouldn't think that Jane was desperate for her company. The door opened and there stood Maura in fuzzy socks and an oversized t-shirt. Jane's jaw dropped and she could feel her eyes begin to dry out because of the lack of blinking. "Hi," Maura smiled.

"Hey," Jane managed, bringing her eyes back up to Maura's eyes. Just then, though, she noticed a smudge of pencil led on her cheek. "You, um, have some..."

"Oh," Maura said, stepping aside to the mirror she had by the door. "I was sketching," she said as she wiped it away with her sleeve.

"Not me, I hope?"

"No, you asked me not to," Maura said, extending her arm for Jane to walk in, even though she hadn't even asked to. "But you are gorgeous," she stated as she closed the door, her back to Jane. The tall brunette sighed, deciding that no matter what she said, Maura was still going to compliment her. She wasn't used to compliments sounding so nice and sincere, so she just smiled when she felt them tingle in her tummy and buzz in her brain.

"Um, I bought these before I found out that I was pregnant," she started, holding up the beers. "And I was just wondering if you drank beer, and if you wanted them?"

"You know, I've never been a big beer fan, probably because beer wasn't served at the functions that my parents took me to, but I'll take them."

"Thanks, 'cause they were kind of tormenting me," Jane confessed.

"Were they staring at you, begging you to drink them?"

"Oh, shut up," Jane said, gently swatting at Maura's shoulder as she followed her to the kitchen. Maura took the beers from Jane and placed the on the bottom shelf of her fridge, allowing the hem of her shirt to ride up a little as she bent over. The second that Jane caught a glimpse of Maura's underwear she made herself look away. She walked over to Maura's couch and sat down, then focussed on one of the sketches standing against the wall. "Who's this?" Jane asked, pointing at the woman in the drawing.

"That's... my old girlfriend," Maura said as she leaned back against the kitchen counter.

"From New York?"

"Yeah," Maura nodded. She looked down at her sock covered feet and took a deep breath.

"Did you go to uni together?"

"Kind of..." Maura whispered in a kind of tone that told Jane to maybe shut up now.

"She's very beautiful."

"I know." Jane saw that Maura was gripping the counter so hard that her knuckles were turning white, so she decided to change the subject. She looked around to find something that she could start talking about. Her eyes scanned over a shelf of intensely thick books, and over past Maura's bed and came full circle back to a stack of DVDs beside the couch.

"Do you wanna watch something? A movie?" Maura lifted her head with a look that showed that she had maybe been quite deep in thought. She pushed off the counter and began walking towards the space beside Jane on the couch.

"Sure," she said and then sat down. "What do you want to watch. I've got some movies; not many. There's probably more interesting stuff on T.V." Jane picked up the remote from the coffee table in front of her and flicked the set on. Up came the end credits of Ellen and both groaned, disappointed having missed it. Jane flicked through some sports channels, quickly noting the score between whoever was playing baseball and continued to flick on until she hit Friends. "Leave it on this," Maura said, waving her hand over in front of Jane to make her stop.

"Okay," Jane said, placing the remote back down on the table and slouching into the couch's soft cushions. Maura giggled next to her when Chandler had a witty comeback or Phoebe had an out there experience. It really just felt good to be watching Friends with a friend. "I wish I had friends like that," Jane mused.

"Well, now you do," Maura said, placing a hand on Jane's thigh, perhaps a little higher than she should, because it got Jane's heart fluttering. She removed her hand, though, just as quickly as she'd placed it there, not giving Jane much time to dwell. Maura refocussed on the show in front of her and only struck up conversation when the ad breaks came on.

"Do you want to have lunch with me this week?" she asked when the episode had finished and there were a string of ads and promotions of the channel before the next show came on.

"Um, I'm working every day at lunch time this week?"

"Oh, um... well, when are you free? Because I really had fun having lunch with you today."

"Well, I finish early on Wednesday, around two, so we could grab a bite to eat then if you want," Jane offered, turning to face the pretty blonde.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I have a late class that day anyway, so it'd be good to eat something before I go."

"What time's your class?"

"4:30 to seven, and then I have another class after that that doesn't finish until ten."

"And you're fine to get home by yourself?"

"Yeah, I should be fine. It's not like I'm the only student that lives in the city."

"I suppose, I just don't want anything to happen."

"Well, thanks, but it's only a half hour walk from here. I'm going-"

"You're not going to walk home at ten o'clock at night."

"I used to walk from NYU to the train station to get home when I lived in New York."

"Well, you're lucky that nothing bad ever happened."

"I'm going to time it tomorrow when I walk there, so..."

"Look," Jane said, standing up. "There's a bus that goes all the way up until midnight and it passes right by most of the universities and colleges and it's a hell of a lot safer than walking." Maura opened her mouth to speak, but Jane opened her door and marched out. She closed her mouth and slouched back, but Jane returned a second later. "Here's a timetable of all the buses in Chicago. I used it when I first got here and was travelling everywhere trying to get a job. I don't need it anymore, so keep it."

"Thank you. I'll catch a bus."

"And they're not that expensive either, so it's really a better way to go."

"Okay, thanks, Jane," Maura said and then leaned across the couch and wrapped her arms around Jane, who suddenly went stiff. Maura pulled back and looked into Jane's eyes. "Sorry, should I not have done that?"

"I just haven't been hugged in a while."

"Not even your boyfriend?" Maura asked, slightly gesturing to Jane's tummy.

"If you could even call him that."

"Ah, I see," Maura nodded. "I won't hug you if you don't want me to."

"No, it's fine. It... it was nice, I just... I kind of forgot what a hug could feel like when, you know, the person meant it."

"Oh, well, I mean it, Jane. Thank you." Jane smiled and prepared herself to leave. "You don't have to go," Maura protested.

"Yeah, well, you were drawing, and I'm a bit sleepy, so I'm just gonna..."

"Okay, have a good nap."

"I will," Jane returned then left to go back to her own apartment.

Later that week, Jane was wiping down the tables by the windows of the diner when she spotted Maura walking towards it. The blonde was dressed in a lovely pair of red jeans with a contrasting black t-shirt that hugged her curves. Jane involuntarily smiled and bit her lip when she found herself gawking at her friend. She stood up and looked at her watch, then quickly finished her last table as the doorbell rang and Maura walked in. Jane watched her as she walked up to the counter and took a seat on one of the stools.

She thought that Maura hadn't seen her, so she opened her mouth to speak, but the pretty blonde spun around at the last second and grinned at Jane. "Hello, Jane," she said, and the brunette's tummy fluttered all over again. It was so weird to feel this happy just from one person's mere presence, but it felt _so_ good. She purposefully dimmed her smile, fearing that it would break her face, and waltzed over to Maura.

"Hi," she forced herself to say. She rounded the counter and turned to back into the back room, giving Maura one last smile. She set her cleaning products on the shelf space and then leaned against it to steady her breathing. She took one final breath then stood up and grabbed her bag before walking back out to meet Maura. "So, where do you want to go?" she said as she rounded the counter again and took a seat next to Maura on a stool.

"Why not here?"

"Oh, no. I really just wanna go somewhere else right now. We can eat here another time if you want, just not today."

"Okay, um... there's a café down the way that's really nice. I had lunch there yesterday."

"Sounds great." Jane hopped up, as did Maura, and the two of them headed for the door.

"Bye, Jane," Susie called before they left.

"See you, Susie," Jane called back with a smile. Maura smiled as well and held the door open for Jane. "Susie goes to Chicago State as well, so you might see around or something," Jane said as they walked out onto the pavement.

"Oh, yeah? What does she do?"

"Something to do with medicine, I think."

"You don't know?" Maura asked with a small smile.

"She's really smart, and uses big words, so it all just..." she waved her hand over her head showing that she didn't understand. Maura laughed and rocked into Jane, who laughed along as well. They came up to the café and took a seat outside under a big umbrella. The décor and menu made it seem like it was themed as the French Riviera, which was nice. It somehow made the sun seem warmer and the coffee richer. They chatted as they ate; a salad for Maura and a BLT for Jane which she got all down her front.

"Good thing I'm going straight home," she laughed as Maura fussed over her with a napkin.

"That might stain, so you should wash it as soon as you get home," Maura instructed.

"Yes, dear." Both women stopped their movements and froze for a second, taking the otherwise sarcastic comment a little more deep than they maybe should have. Maura straightened herself up while Jane wiped the food from the corners of her mouth and slouched back into her seat.

"So, why didn't you want to eat at the diner?"

"Oh, um... my ex's friend came in, and I, ah... you see, I haven't told Casey that I'm pregnant, 'cause he's training to be in the army or whatever, but I thought he should know, and it just kind of slipped out."

"So, he's going to tell Casey?"

"Yeah, I suppose so. I don't expect him to want to help or anything, I mean, we broke up before I found out, and he wasn't really planning on sticking around in Chicago for much longer."

"Well, if he doesn't want to be there for you, or be involved, I should say, that's okay. I'm not going anywhere."

"I can't ask you to help with this, Maura. We only just met."

"But that doesn't change the fact that I like our friendship, and I value it, and I want to be able to help you whenever you need me."

"Thanks, Maura."

"You're welcome," she whispered back as she fidgeted under the table. "Well, my bus will be arriving soon, up there," she pointed up the street to the bus stop. "So..."

"Okay, well thanks for having lunch with me," Jane said as she stood up and grabbed out her wallet.

"Oh, no, Jane; I've got this," Maura protested, holding out her hand.

"No, it's okay."

"I insist," Maura said, grabbing out her purse.

"How about we split it," Jane suggested, as it was apparent that neither wanted to give in totally.

"Okay," Maura agreed with a soft chuckle. Both placed a twenty on the table under a glass and smiled their goodbyes. Jane made it to the end of the corner before looking back up the street at the bus that had just pulled in. She waited until she saw it leave before walking to head home and wash her now stained shirt.

Maura spun around on the back seat having just watched as Jane crossed the street, and sighed as her tummy fluttered, just as it had when she's began falling in love with her professor all those months ago.


	6. Chapter 6

**SIX**

The doors swung open and the lecture room full of college students began to empty. Maura was still packing her bag when all but a few students had left. One girl was lingering a little way in front of Maura and she could see her out of the corner of her eye as she turned to place her pencil case into her satchel, so she looked up. The girl smiled brightly at her, and she smiled back. She had a bright toothy grin and bright eyes framed by her glasses. Her chocolaty skin was even more appealing to Maura than Barry's had been, probably because, she was a girl. But nothing buzzed in Maura's tummy like it usually did when she saw a pretty girl, because it was already on a twenty four our buzz from Jane.

"Hi!" the girl said as she approached Maura. The blonde picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulder as she stood up. "I'm Nina."

"Hi, I'm Maura." Nina smiled and took a step to the side so that Maura could walk alongside her as they made their way to the exit. "What do you like to sketch, Nina?"

"Mainly landscapes; what about you?"

"People. Well, parts of people as well, like their hands or their smiles or the muscles in their shoulders moving when they're lifting something heavy, you know."

"Nice." There was a little silence between the two women as they edged their way further away from the well-lit campus to the darker streets of night time Chicago. "Do you catch the bus?"

"Yes, I do. Well, I only just moved here, but I will be taking the bus to and from college."

"Me, too. I used to travel with a few friends, but they picked earlier classes this semester so I'm by myself..."

"And you didn't want to ride alone?" Maura finished.

"Yeah. Coming in is alright, but at this time of night, I think it's just safer to go with someone."

"I agree," Maura said as she dug in her jean pocket for the change she needed. "I was hoping I'd find someone to ride with, to be honest."

"Well, now you got me," Nina smiled as she paid her fare and followed Maura to a seat halfway down the bus. Maura rubbed her eyes as they sat down and was glad that she didn't put much make up on before she left her place, otherwise she would have just smudged it all over her face. She closed her eyes and imagined the hot shower she would have when she got home and the wrinkled sheets of her bed. Her mother always got a little miffed at her for not making sure her bottom sheet was pulled taught before making the rest of her bed, but Maura liked the feeling of sliding back into the slightly messy covers. It reminded her of those rainy days in the holidays when she didn't have to really get out of bed all day so she just stayed there in her sheets and blankets and huddled up in her pillows and sketched something.

Her bed felt so nice in her mind that she sighed in pleasure quite loudly; loud enough for her to bring herself out of her fantasy. "Sorry," she whispered to Nina who was nodding off herself.

"It's okay."

"I was just imagining how nice my bed feels. I think I've made myself tireder, though."

"I know what you mean. Sometimes I used to start snoring and my friends would have to wake me up." Maura laughed a little to herself, partly fuelled by utter exhaustion. "I feel like I'm going to slip off my seat if I don't stay awake. Keep me talking, please," Nina begged though her eyes had drifted shut.

"Okay... um... what stop do you get off at?"

"Stop 24."

"That's the one before me," Maura said excitedly, although she really didn't know why she'd gotten so excited.

"Cool. We should grab a coffee sometime then. Once we've slept."

"It's a plan. Where do you work?"

"At a little bookshop about a block from my place. What about you?"

"I haven't actually got a job yet."

"Well, I'm sure you'll find one soon."

"Thanks." Maura forced her eyes open as she watched the city pass her; the lights of apartments and town houses glowing through the windows. It wasn't really all that late, she thought. She'd sometimes stay up til the wee hours of the morning finishing a sketch, even when she had to get up early the next morning, but today she just seemed more tired than usual. Maybe it was having lunch with her gorgeous neighbour that got her mind exhausted, and then her body followed. _Jane_, Maura thought to herself. She really did like Jane. She knew it was bad to crush on someone she'd just met and had only had lunch with a few times and whose bin she'd gone through, but she felt it too hard to stop herself. And she really didn't want to stop, either.

"This is me," Nina said as she stood up, breaking Maura's train of thought.

"Okay, well, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon for class then?"

"Yeah; don't forget to sleep."

"Why would I forget?"

"You were staring out that window for a good five minutes, and it definitely looked like sleep was the last thing on your mind."

"Oh, well, I'll sleep; don't worry."

"Okay; night," Nina called as she made her way to the bus door as it pulled to a stop.

"Night," Maura said, but it was no more than a whisper. Her mind was back on Jane. It wasn't too cool outside, so she doubted that Jane would be utilising her new warm blankets, but she hoped that she would when the nights were cooler.

What she didn't know was that Jane was indeed utilising her warm new blankets as she sat in her open doorway with them wrapped around her. She was facing the stairwell waiting for her new friend to return home from her late night lecture. Jane had washed the stain out of her shirt without any problems, spent the rest of her day cleaning, had a nice microwave dinner for one (and a half), and had crawled into bed a little after nine. She'd thought that her working and cleaning ventures of the day would bring sleep fairly quickly, but instead she tossed and turned and looked at her bedside clock every five minutes. She eventually got out of bed, dragging her white mink blanket with her and flicked on her television for company hoping that would make her feel sleepy. Shopping channels bored her to death, but unfortunately not to sleep so she flicked through the channels continuously until that, too, bored her. She looked at her watch and noticed that Maura's class would soon be finishing and decided to wait up to see her.

She grabbed her red blanket from the back of the couch and shuffled over to the door and unlocked it, then popped her head out to check for possible murderers, Barry or other neighbours that weren't the perky blonde. When she saw that no one was there, she opened it and slid herself down the door frame until she was sitting on the plushness of the red blanket with the white one wrapped around her like a cocoon. She didn't think it would be too long until Maura got home so she just sat and waited.

Nearly half an hour later, she heard the swoosh of the front door and then footsteps on the stairs. She smiled to herself, but then realised she'd probably better get herself inside lest Maura think she was waiting up for her like a parent whose daughter was out on a date. She was, but she didn't want Maura to think she was. She tried to stand, but her feet were tucked into her cocoon, so she just fell back down again with a thud onto her side. The footsteps were coming closer; nearly at the top of the stairs, so she began wriggling like a worm to try and get herself back inside. Suddenly the footsteps stopped, and she looked over her shoulder, but there was no Maura, so she started off again. She wriggled her body inside and used her feet to kick the door shut, but the silkiness of the blanket made her slide back into the door's path. She closed her eyes as she accepted her fate and the door whacked her on the forehead.

"Ow," she whimpered, then attempted to close the door with her quickly bruising head, but it stopped all of a sudden. She looked up and there stood Maura, a cheeky grin threatening to spread across her face if it wasn't for her determined effort to keep a serious expression.

"Were you waiting up for me, Jane?" she asked the cocoon on the floor.

"No," Jane squeaked, although she didn't even try to make it sound truthful. She rolled onto her tummy as Maura giggled at her, and then slipped her arms out to push herself up. Maura slipped her hand under Jane's arm to help her up as she closed the door behind her. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine. It's actually kind of sweet."

"What's sweet about a grown woman-"

"Caterpillar," Maura butted in, pointing at the blanket still wrapped around Jane.

"Waiting up for her neighbour," Jane finished with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm kind of glad you did wait up. I was really anxious about coming home this late at night."

"Well, I can stay up all the time if you want; like if you'd feel safer."

"That'd be nice; thank you." Jane smiled, feeling needed, but soon the silence between them felt awkward, so she tossed her red blanket back over the couch and began walking to the kitchen.

"Do you want anything?"

"Oh, no. I should get some sleep. I have a job interview tomorrow morning, so..."

"Oh, yeah? Where?" Jane asked as she poured herself a glass of water.

"The supermarket, actually."

"Oh, you gonna be a check-out chick?" Jane asked before gulping down her water.

"Hopefully," Maura said, stepping up onto her tip toes quickly. She'd gotten herself all excited by talking to Jane and now the tiredness she'd felt half an hour ago was long gone. "You're probably tired, so I'm going to go home and have a nice hot shower."

"Okay, have a good show- sleep," Jane spat. She now had the image of Maura in a hot steamy shower with the shower curtain clinging to her wet skin in her head, and she just knew it would take a long while for that image to get out of her mind.

"You too," Maura said as she turned to the door. As soon as Maura was gone Jane hopped back over to her bed and flopped down, slapping her forehead in embarrassment when she was on her back.

"Ouch," she winced, remembering her antics not so long ago. She wriggled her way back up to her pillow and tucked her still blanketed legs under the covers and closed her eyes to see Maura in her shower. Jane shook her head at herself, but didn't open her eyes. She watched Maura in her mind through the shower curtain and then out and into her bed and until she was asleep. She thought it odd how her mind only focussed on Maura's face, her hands, her legs and her back; like her mind wanted to keep it somewhat PG rated. She shrugged as she rolled over to her side, and suddenly it wasn't so hard to fall asleep anymore.

Maura turned her shower on and held her hand under the hot spray that streamed out. She brought her hand out to untie her robe, and when it dropped to the floor she stepped in fully. Her goose bumps vanished in an instant and were replaced by warm flushing skin. She turned her back to the water and moaned as it hit her aching neck and shoulders. Her hair was pulled up into a loose bun with a few tresses falling down into the gush of water and running down her back. She ran her hands over her chest and under her breasts then down her tummy to the tops of her legs, then around to her bottom cheeks where she squeezed them allowing the water to run between them. Now that every inch of her was warm and wet, she felt as if she could fall asleep standing up, but turned around instead.

She stuck her face under the water then opened her mouth to fill it. The water warmed her throat as it went down and made her sizzle from the inside out. She cooled the temperature of the water then and grabbed her soap to her wash herself. She cleaned in between her toes and under her arms and when she found the struggle to keep her eyes open any longer became too much, she turned off the water and stepped out. She dried herself quickly and pulled on her sweatpants and oversized t-shirt and let her hair out. It fell wildly over her shoulder and in the dim lighting of the bathroom, for a split second, she felt sexy. She hadn't felt that way since dating her professor, and as soon as she realised that, she didn't feel sexy anymore. Sure, loads of guys and girls had told her that she was a goddess on earth and she would smile at them for that, because she believed that they honestly meant it, but when the comments became more sexist a few months ago and 'goddess' turned to 'slut' she stopped believing.

She brushed her teeth and didn't even realise until she'd finished that she hadn't had any dinner, but she didn't care right now. She'd slipped back into the sad state she was in when she was back at NYU and her life had spiralled out of control, so she crawled into her bed, under her wrinkled sheets and buried her head into her pillow as she pulled another to her chest until she fell asleep.

The next thing she knew, someone was knocking on her door, so she grumbled her way to the door, but smiled way too cheerily for someone who had just woken up when she saw Jane through the peephole. "Hi," she squeaked as she swung the door open.

"Hi," Jane said as she held up a brown paper bag and a coffee. "I'm off to work, but I wanted to wish you good luck with your interview today, so I got you some breakfast."

"Oh, Jane, you didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to; by the way, can you tell that I have a huge bruise on my forehead?"

"No," Maura giggled as she remembered the events of last night. She took the bag and coffee from Jane. "You look gorgeous," she whispered.

"Good, 'cause I really wanna knock 'em dead at work today," Jane said with a wink before making her way to the stairs. "Bye!"

"Bye!" Maura called back through her laughter, then turned back into her apartment to have her breakfast. She looked in the bag and grinned when she saw two croissants. She placed the bag down on her kitchen counter and pulled the lid off her coffee to add milk and sugar, then made her way back to bed. She opened her laptop and pulled up an old episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and munched on her croissants as the city woke up outside.


	7. Chapter 7

**SEVEN**

As the episode finished, and Buffy had slayed yet another demon in her town, Maura closed her laptop and stood up to shake off her crumbs. Two croissants and a hungry art student could make more mess than Maura thought possible. She wondered if she got any food in her stomach at all, and yet, she felt full, so she must've. She wiped the remaining crumbs off her bed and hopped over to her kitchen to bin the empty coffee cup. The lid of the bin spun around as she tossed it in and she flicked the radio on to fill the morning silence.

Some 90s grunge screamed through the speakers so she turned it down a little before sliding in her socks back into her room to get dressed. She'd thought she'd pop into Jane's diner before her interview at the supermarket at eleven. She pulled out a pair of black slacks and a white button up shirt that she could roll the sleeves up on, then stripped off down to her panties as some Blink 182 blasted through her apartment. She pulled on her pants and then her white bra and an undershirt before heading to the bathroom to do her hair and make-up.

Once she was ready she pulled on her crisp white button up shirt and did it up, not all the way, and tucked it into her pants. She wriggled her feet into her most professional looking shoes and grabbed her bag. She had just over an hour until her interview and so she planned to spend most of it with Jane; she didn't know why or what exactly she would do for sixty minutes, just that she wanted to see Jane as much as she could stand. She bit her lip at the thought of Jane wiping something she spilt off her shirt or bending over to pick up a dropped napkin...

"Stop it, Maura!" she told herself, as she picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulder before leaving her apartment. She galloped down the stairs, humming a merry tune and full on barrelled into a tall, sweet smelling person on her way out.

"Whoa!"

"Sorry," she said, before looking up at the dark eyes that were gazing at her.

"It's alright; my fault entirely," Barry said as he dramatically stepped aside, holding the door open for her.

"Thank you," Maura said suspiciously, a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth as she exited.

"I'm Barry, by the way," he spat before Maura had gone too far.

"Hi. Maura."

"Oh, Janie's new friend. Yeah, she told me about you this morning when I popped in for breakfast."

"At the diner?"

"Yeah; so what- did you two gals have a sleepover or something?"

"Ah, no; I moved into the apartment across from her."

"Oh; two beautiful girls down the hall from my apartment. Lucky me."

"Not really," Maura said, causing Barry to pull a face of confusion. She raised her eyebrows with a small smile as she waited for Barry to work out what she meant.

"Oh. Well, to each his own... or her own. I still got Janie," he said before turning to bound up the stairs. Maura shook her head at her thick neighbour, but it vanished when she heard Barry's voice in her head. 'I still got Janie.' Jane was never going to get butterflies in her tummy when she saw Maura, or thought about Maura or heard Maura's voice. She knew Jane was never going to get those things, but that didn't stop her from feeling them no matter how much she wanted them to go away.

A sudden flashback ran through her mind as she remembered sitting on her old bed back in New York crying her eyes out, reading and re-reading the letter her professor had written her. Her tears had splashed onto the paper and run the ink out of their letters and she had told herself to never fall in love like that again. She knew she would fall in love again, but she'd tell herself to not fall so quickly. She wanted to know the person for a while before their lips ever touched, before their hands ever caressed, before their souls ever became one.

She wanted to stay away from Jane and only be around her when they ran into each other on the staircase or when Jane invited her over for dinner, but something deep inside her kept her legs moving and soon she was standing outside the diner staring at Jane who was serving a customer. Her smile burned into Maura's mind and she felt a voice scream in her head to run, but she didn't. She walked in and sat down in a booth by the window, telling herself that it was only a crush.

A crush, yes; but for how long.

Jane smiled as the man she just served walked back over to his seat in another booth, and then she spotted Maura. She smiled even wider, hoping Maura would look up, but when she didn't, her smile melted away. Even when she walked over to the blonde, her heavy steps echoing through the diner, Maura didn't look up. She looked around to where Susie was by the counter and nodded at her, silently asking her to cover for her, and then sat down across from Maura.

"Hey," she whispered. Maura looked up and smiled, though her eyes were red from _not_ crying, and whispered back.

"Hi."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You're not fine, Maura."

"Yes, I am," she said and then swallowed hard. She looked into Jane's eyes and crumbled. A tear ran down her cheek and she wiped it away with the back of her hand.

"Hey," Jane said softly as she reached across and grabbed her hand. Maura stiffened under the brunette's warm touch and pulled her hand away. "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry, Jane. I'm being silly."

"Do you want me to get you something to eat or drink?"

"I'm still full from those croissants."

"There were only two."

"It still filled me up. Plus the coffee."

"It was a big coffee," Jane agreed, making Maura smile and chuckle a little. "There it is."

"What?"

"Your beautiful smile." Maura laughed it off and dipped her head, as Jane chastised herself for flirting. She just wanted to be a good friend, but she'd found her tummy tingling again, so she stood up. "Well, I gotta get back to work, you know; serving people." She spun and moved back behind the counter as Maura took a deep breath and shook her head at herself for crying and getting so worked up about something that was really nothing.

She spent the next half hour reading over her notes from yesterday and sipping on a strawberry milkshake Jane made her, free of charge. She wanted to believe that Jane was flirting, but hit herself mentally and went back to her notes. Once she'd read over each word maybe fifty times and she was pretty sure it was all glued in her mind, Maura flipped to the last page of her book and began sketching the diner. She drew the counter and the stools and the milkshake maker behind the bar, and then her pencil, almost of its own free will, began drawing the lean form of Jane as she stood with her pony tail bouncing around as she bopped along to some 50s tune coming from the jukebox and her hands waving around as she spoke.

Maura really hadn't thought in detail about how gorgeous Jane was (she kind of had) until she let the pencil run down the slope of her nose and darken her eyes in a way that was truly magnificent. She had gotten so carried away with her heart and her art that when she followed Jane around the room and her eyes drifted up to the clock on the wall, she almost spat out her latest sip of milkshake. She slurped it down and ripped out her sketch and flipped it over to write on the back. She scribbled her message then folded up her note, slipped it underneath the empty glass and grabbed her bag. She burst out of the diner so fast that when Jane looked up to see who had caused the front door bell to ring, there was no one there.

But Maura was no longer in her booth, so she looked up at the clock. It was one minute to eleven and Maura had to dash a block and a half to the supermarket without making it look like she was dashing. She went over to the booth to retrieve the used glass and noticed the note underneath. She picked up the note and slipped it into her pocket to read on her break and took the glass out to the kitchen with the rest of her tray of dirty cutlery and crockery.

"Is everything okay?" Susie asked, as she followed Jane into the kitchen.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"Your friend; you like her."

"Of course I like her; she's my friend."

"No... you like her, Jane. It's obvious the way you looked at her and the way she smiled at you."

"How'd she smile at me?" Jane asked, a little too eagerly.

"With her mouth. But the way _you_ smiled back... wow, you like her." Jane chuckled at Susie's wording and high school girl personality before walking back out to the counter which was filling up with early lunch customers.

When Jane finished her morning shift and was now able to take her lunch break, she stole a handful of fries from a plate that was ready to serve, earning a rather loud grumble from Sean, and made her way to the café she and Maura had lunch at down the road. She went inside this time and sat in the library area then pulled out her note from Maura. She ate the last of her chips and then dusted her hands of salt before opening the note. She rolled her eyes at Maura's drawing, knowing that the cute art student wouldn't really be able to not draw her, and flipped it over to read the message.

_You really do have gorgeous cheekbones. M_

Jane smiled foolishly and slipped the note back into her pocket slowly. She ordered a coffee and pulled out book from the shelf and opened it to a random page. She'd started coming in when she'd met Maura; the day they fought, to be exact. She was angry yet intrigued by her neighbour and she had to get out of her head by spending some time in a place she didn't normally go, so she slumped into the book café. She'd grabbed out a random book and flipped to a random page every day just to see how often love was mentioned in it. Today she grabbed Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, and she sighed in a way so that it was an audible eye roll, because of course love was to be mentioned.

By the time her lunch break was up, she'd lost herself in the words and the images that floated through her mind and she wondered, for a split second as she slid the book back into its place, could love really be like that? Where it's all consuming and honest at the same time? She'd never known a love like that, but the buzz in her head and the way her palms got moist with cold sweat when anything Maura related popped into her head made her feel like maybe it could be possible. Like the possibility that everything will be fine and she could get her happy ending; whatever that may be.

She finished the rest of her day wondering and imagining her future with her baby girl or boy and how they would manage to survive, and if Maura would still be in her life. She walked out with Susie at the end and waved her goodbye as she made her way home in the opposite direction as Jane and then followed the glow of street lamps and traffic lights home. When she got upstairs she heard Maura talking to someone in her apartment; laughing and having a good ol' time, and smiled sadly to herself as she unlocked her door.

A nice hot shower and a half-filling dinner of grilled cheese later and she was flopped out on her couch under her red blanket and was flicking through channels hoping to fill some void which she couldn't name. Suddenly though, there was a knock on her door, so she flicked the television off, and shuffled over to her door, then nonchalantly opened her it.

"Hi, Jane," Maura giggled.

"I didn't know opening the door was funny," she deadpanned.

"Shush! This is Nina; we go to college together."

"Hi, Nina," Jane said, as she pulled the blanket back over her shoulder.

"Hi. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then," Nina said to Maura with a pat to her arm, then made her way downstairs.

"You've got a class tomorrow?"

"No," Maura said as she stood back into her doorway and motioned for Jane to follow her. Jane reached her arm back inside and grabbed her keys from their place in a bowl on a shelf and shuffled in after Maura. She flopped down onto Maura's couch as her cocoon wrapped tighter around her. Maura shut off the light in her kitchen, leaving her bedroom light on as the only one, and moved over to the couch to sit next to Jane.

"But you're catching up with Nina?"

"Yeah, she lives about ten minutes from here, so we're going to have lunch together."

"Nice."

"And don't worry, I'm not taking her to the café we went to, because that's our place." Jane giggled at that, although she liked Maura's sentimentality. Her hot shower was catching up with as she felt a yawn coming on so she wriggled to the edge of the couch.

"Do you wanna watch something, 'cause otherwise I'll go to bed."

"Oh, I kind of thought we could talk."

"Yeah?" Jane said as her face lit up.

"Yeah; so how was work?"

"Oh, it was okay. Thanks for the note. You're really good at drawing. I don't usually like looking at myself but you made me seem... interesting somehow."

"You are interesting. I like drawing you."

"Yeah?" Again, her face lit up, but this time with a blush.

"Yes. I know you asked me not to, but I was just passing time until my interview."

"How'd that go?" Jane butted in.

"Great, actually. I can start next Monday."

"That's fantastic!"

"Yeah; the manager really liked my resume and she said that they were always needing more people as most of the people that work there are college students, and as soon as they graduated and got a real job, they left."

"That makes sense."

"And because the semester ended just a few months ago, they're down on people, so I have a job," Maura finished excitedly. Jane squealed with joy and threw her arms around Maura and almost squeezed the life out of her.

"I'm so proud of you," she said, then sat back up. Neither realised what had happened until it had happened, and so the moment was gone. "This calls for celebration!" Jane said as she tossed the blanket off her and rushed home to her apartment.

"She keeps doing that," Maura said to herself in amusement, before Jane returned with a large block of chocolate. Maura smiled and clapped her hands together as Jane grabbed the remote and huddled back under her blanket. She handed the chocolate to Maura as she flicked the T.V on and quickly found prime time reruns of Frasier and Cheers. They stayed up for the rest of the night watching reruns under the red blanket munching on chocolate like teenagers until they both fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**EIGHT**

A soft sigh; a gentle moan; the warmth of her silky blanket drawing her back to sleep as her two feet entwined with another's; sliding up and down the smooth calves before the tips of her toes reached the hem of soft cotton pants. It felt like a dream, but was more like the calm before the storm, bubbling up inside of Jane's stomach and burning up her throat. She pushed off her blanket and threw herself to the floor, landing on her hands and knees. She gathered her bearings quickly enough, before she scrambled to her feet and ran to Maura's bathroom. She slammed the door behind her, waking Maura up, and arched her back as she heaved up into the toilet bowl. She pulled back her hair and tucked it under the back of her shirt as much she could before her nose became clogged and tears burnt her tired eyes. In between gags and splashes of whatever food that was landed in the toilet, she could hear Maura running to the door.

"Jane! Are you alright?" She tried to answer but a hunk of something blocked her throat and she hurled up some more. Next she knew Maura was standing behind her, pulling back her hair and softly rubbing her back. She stopped when Jane arched again then laid her palm flat against the brunette's back, feeling her spine underneath. Jane's hands released their grip on the sides of the bowl as she sunk back onto her knees. Maura crouched down beside her and dragged her finger along Jane's forehead, bringing whatever stray strands of hair had stuck to it with sweat. "Are you finished?"

"I think so," Jane mumbled through the stickiness of phlegm and vomit that was lining her mouth.

"Do you want a shower?"

"I'll have one at my place."

"Okay," Maura whispered, continuing her gentle rubbing on Jane's back. "Do you need a minute, or do you want to head home?"

"I wanna go home." Maura stood, and waited for Jane to let go of the bowl before she offered her hands and helped her to her feet. She held Jane's hand as she walked her back over to her place. She flung the blanket over her forearm as she picked up Jane's keys to open her door, then let her go and get ready for her shower as she folded the blanket and draped it over the arm of the lounge. She watched as Jane shuffled into her bathroom and closed the door, then went back over to her place to clean her toilet and take a morning shower herself. As the water rushed down her legs and over her feet, she remembered Jane's feet touching hers as they watched television last night and then how they were entwined this morning before morning sickness ripped them apart.

She didn't stand under the shower for too long this morning, wanting to get out and tend to Jane as much she could before the taller woman had to go to work. At least tomorrow was Saturday and Jane could sleep as much as she wanted, or needed. When she'd dried herself and gotten dressed, she made her way back over to Jane's, and was thoroughly surprised that Jane was bustling around her kitchen munching on a piece of toast and wiping a splodge of jam off her shirt at the same time. Maura stood in the doorway watching as the brunette went about her, it seemed, usual morning routine. Vomit with a side of jam on toast. "Is it just me, or were you heaving your guts up ten minutes ago?"

"No, I was," Jane said before taking another bite of her toast.

"You must have a fantastic shower if it can make you feel that good. Do you mind if I try it one time?" Jane chuckled at Maura's expense as she dusted her hands of crumbs over the sink.

"I've gotten used to throwing up in the last week or so. It feels like crap at the time, but a nice shower and a crunchy piece of toast later, I feel great. Well, not great, 'cause I'm up instead of lazing in bed, but the icky-ness has passed, so I'm all good," she finished as she moved over to her bed to pull on her shoes.

"I would think you'd be grumbling and begging not to go to work."

"Well, yeah, but I have to go to work. I don't have a choice."

"Sorry, Jane." Maura felt a twang of guilt as she heard Jane say those words, forgetting for a second that not everyone in the world could be unemployed and still have a hefty amount of cash in the bank to fall back on. She looked at her feet and focussed on them wriggling before Jane's shadow loomed around her and she looked up into beautiful brown eyes.

"It's okay," Jane said with a gentle touch to Maura's crossed arms. "Do you want to come to the diner for breakfast?" she asked as she leant over to grab her coat.

"Yeah, I'd love that. Just wait a second, okay?" Maura said before scooting off to her apartment to pull on her shoes and grab her jacket and bag. She met Jane in the hall a minute later and locked her door behind her.

"All good?"

"Mmhmm." Jane helped Maura pull her jacket on, then brought her own coat together to button it up as she'd heard that it was a fairly cool morning on the radio. "So, what do you serve for breakfast?"

"Well, we have all the usual stuff: bacon and eggs, pancakes, toast; you name it, we've got it."

"Yum," Maura said, and held the door open for Jane before they made their way down the chilly streets to the diner. The clouds had come over overnight and so everything had a hint of blue lingering in it. There was no warm glow outside today, but inside Maura's chest, there was a ball of happiness that was simmering, getting ready to burst. There was a similar buzz in Jane's body, too, but she still felt the hollow emptiness of that morning's adventure to the bathroom, so it was a little less simmer-y and a little more wave-y. She tried to be as light on her feet as possible, still not sure how much movement would set off a barf attack, as her brothers used to call it.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters, Maura?"

"I have a cousin who's like a sister; Cailin. She lives with her mum about twenty minutes from our house, so they always popped around. Cailin and I even went to the same high school, so that's probably why we're close; so we could bitch about the same teachers." Jane nudged into Maura's side as she laughed.

"I used to do that with my best friends; like we'd have nicknames for them all."

"Oh, yeah; like what?"

"Well, there was our old English teacher who always talked about how reading to a child is important in their early years. He was also bald, so we called him 'Baldilocks'."

"That's a good one," Maura giggled. She'd never come up with nicknames for the teachers she didn't like, for she always feared that her parents would find out about it and ground her.

"So, was Cailin like your best friend?"

"I guess so. I never had anything closer than that until I met Ma... a friend in university."

"That was an anti-climax."

"Hmm?"

"Does this friend have a name?"

"Yeah."

"Well?"

"You know, its... um... it's private. It... it didn't end well."

"Sorry."

"No, it's okay." Jane opened the door to the diner for Maura, then followed her in and walked over to the counter.

"Where do you want to sit?"

"Um... I'll sit up here." Jane backed her way through the door to dump her coat and bag and pick up her apron as Maura settled on a stool and picked up a menu.

"Hi." Maura turned to see Susie smiling at her so she smiled and said 'hi' back. "I'm Susie."

"I'm Maura."

"So you're Jane's new neighbour?" she asked as she rounded the counter and scribbled something on her notepad.

"Yeah."

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you, you know, in person."

"You too," Maura smiled before Susie turned and went into the kitchen. Jane came back out and smiled as she leaned across the counter to Maura.

"So, what takes your fancy?"

"I think I'll have the blueberry pancakes, please, Miss."

"Miss, ugh!" Jane said over dramatically, making Maura smile. "Just call me Jane, please."

"As you wish."

"Any drinks?"

"Uh, just a cup of coffee, please."

"Sure," Jane smiled politely, as she always did for her customers, but put a wink into it for Maura. She backed into the kitchen just as more customers came in. Susie came back out with her arms full of food and smiled as she passed Maura. She turned around to see that most of the diner had begun to fill up with morning regulars, and when she turned back there was a plate of pancakes in front of her with a bottle of maple syrup. Jane was down at the other end of the counter talking to some morning regular, so she picked up the syrup and her knife and lathered it onto her pancakes. They were still steaming a little when she cut into them, so she knew they were fresh and that the blueberries would be juicy and sweet. She closed her eyes as she chewed, trying to remember the last time she ate pancakes so good, but gave up when Jane came back to her. "Good?"

"The best," she answered as she shovelled in another bite. She took a sip from her coffee as well, enjoying its warmth which matched her fuzzy glowing feeling inside. The man that was sitting next to her left soon, leaving his morning paper, and so Maura opened it to do a crossword and any other games that were in it. She ordered a second lot of pancakes as the first serving of three just hadn't filled her up, and flipped the page to do another crossword. By the time the morning rush had dulled down, Maura had finished two crosswords and a Sudoku as well as two servings of pancakes and three cups of coffee, and was now wiping up the excess syrup with her finger as she completed a word search.

"You must have been hungry," Jane said as she sat herself down at the stool beside Maura.

"I was," she said, licking her lips of the sticky sweetness. A quick glance at Jane's lips, and a moment to chastise herself for it, then she pushed the newspaper towards Jane. "And in my nerdy mode."

"I think you've been productive."

"I can't solve this one though," she pointed to a crossword marked 'HARD' where she had barely filled in a quarter of the squares.

"Well, let's see what we can do about that," Jane said as she spun on her seat to lean on the counter and then spun the paper towards her. She knew that out of the two of them that Maura would be smarter, and that she would struggle to form a coherent sentence using words with eight letters or more, but still, she gave it a shot. Together, the two women huddled around the paper with a pen each and soon most of the squares were filled with a combination of Jane's edgy writing and Maura's curly. Whilst Maura would read and reread the clue, closing her eyes to visualise the word that she needed, Jane would scribble on the sides of the paper and on napkins as the diner was empty and Susie was cleaning the tables. They never had customers all day, but they had them every day at every meal and at those times, every seat had a person sitting in them and all were busy. But in the lull of the mid-morning, they usually spent most of their time over cleaning tables and listening to their favourite songs from the jukebox.

Jane pushed up off her stool and drummed her fingers along the counter as she walked to the jukebox to whack on some classic 80s starting with Cyndi Lauper. Maura twirled her pen between her fingers before the opening beats of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" caught her ears and she whipped her head around to see Jane shifting nervously like a child in the middle of the diner.  
"Dance?" she asked. Maura hopped off the stool that she had spent the last hour and a half on and skipped over to Jane. Susie popped her head up from behind the counter and watched the two grown women skip around like two girls on a play date, not caring that any passers-by outside were smiling and gawking at them through the window.

Jane hooked her arm into Maura's and spun her around, laughing the whole time at how the blonde closed her eyes and squealed the faster Jane would move. Susie soon couldn't hold back and stepped around and gently moved towards the two women until Maura reached out and grabbed her hand. The three of them giggled and spun around until their heads were dizzy and their legs were about to give way and Sean popped his head out of the kitchen to clear his throat at them. Susie moved back behind the counter and grabbed the cleaning products for the bathrooms and Jane pushed Maura back to the stool then jumped over to the jukebox to turn it down so that it didn't rattle the stacks of plates in the kitchen. Maura giggled as Jane pushed her back to her stool and quickly jumped back up as the brunette made her way over to her, stifling a smile like a mischievous school kid.

"Oops," Maura giggled.

"He doesn't like it when we turn it up too loud."

"He just wants to have fun too, I bet."

"Yeah, but he's the strict dad and we're the naughty children."

"Naughty, huh?" Maura winked, and before she realised what she'd implied, Jane was agreeing and winking back at her.

The track changed on the jukebox and Phil Collins began singing. "I love this song," Jane mused as she rested her head in her hand as her arm was propped up on its elbow.

"Me too," Maura agreed, but her mind was too busy screaming that Jane had winked at her twice that day, and she didn't know what that meant, but she liked it.

"Well, I have to do some cleaning today or I'll lose my job for having too much fun, so..."

"I'll see you later then?" Maura asked as she stood up from her stool and pulled her jacket on.

"Absolutely," Jane smiled. Maura picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulder, giving the other woman one last smile to last her the day, then turned to head home.


	9. Chapter 9

**NINE**

A long afternoon and evening later, Jane closed up and walked to the street corner with Susie. They bid their farewells as usual, although Jane played down how thankful she was for the day to be done, as she didn't want the other woman's idea of Jane crushing on Maura to blow up. She did like Maura, as a friend. She'd never felt so happy and giddy around someone before, especially another woman, so it was a little odd; but it was a good odd. She'd never been anything her parents wanted her to be; she was a bit of a black sheep, so if she liked women, it was just another thing that made her different.

The clouds had stayed around all day, but she felt as though the sun was shining down on her as she walked up the street and around the corner to her apartment building. As she passed the supermarket, she made a mental note to check what she needed for when she went shopping tomorrow. She hated shopping on Saturdays when it was crowded and noisy and every checkout had at least ten people already lined up, but she had to work on Sunday and she usually would've run out of food by then anyway. She was glad that Sunday was just a morning shift, so that she could come home and laze about and watch some sports, and maybe she could help Maura prepare for her first day of work the next day.

As soon as she opened the bulky front door of the building, the music from Barry's fortnightly Friday night singles party blasted in her ears. She'd forgotten to tell Maura, but she also thought that Barry would've made his way around and asked the cute blonde if she wanted to attend. There were people crowding the stairwell and the hallway outside her apartment as the sheer mass of people had flooded out of Barry's apartment, and she had to push past and squeeze her way through quite a few of them to get to her door. When she finally made it into her own apartment, the noise level dropped dramatically, but it was still loud enough for her to understand the lyrics of the songs and who had hooked up with whom in the last week.

She dumped her bag on her bed and started undressing for her shower when she found something in her pocket. She pulled out the napkin she'd scribbled on and opened it to see what she'd written and drawn. She smiled at herself and then moved over to her bedside chest of drawers where she pulled up the paper lining and tucked the napkin underneath. She continued her undressing as she made her way into the bathroom and relaxed into the hot shower.

A half hour later, she had had a bite to eat and was redressed for the party. Barry had given her a 'lifetime invitation' to any of his parties, which was sometimes okay, because it got her out and kept her awake. When she opened her door she collided with Maura who squealed as her plastic cup of beer spilt down her front. "Oh, Jesus; I'm sorry, Maura!" Jane yelled above the music, dipping her head down to make sure Maura was alright. When Maura lifted her head back up she let out a hearty laugh and almost toppled over backwards. "How many beers have you had?"

"Can't remember!" the blonde giggled back before she dropped the now empty cup and fell forward into Jane. The brunette pushed her up and held her by her waist as she bent down to look Maura in the eye. Her eyes were watery and her make-up was slightly smudged and she was now making gurgle-y baby noises through her laughter.

Jane leaned forward so close that she could smell Maura's alcohol dosed breath and could talk quietly to Maura without the hordes of men around them hearing. "I'm going to take you home and put you in the shower, okay?" Maura stopped her laughing and nodded, happy that she could go home and sleep, Jane assumed.

"Whoa, ladies!" Barry called out as Jane shuffled Maura over to her door. "We're not going home already, are we?"

"She's absolutely drunk, Barry," Jane explained as she dipped her hand into Maura's jacket pocket to find her keys. "Where are you keys, honey?" Maura tapped her front jean pocket and so Jane sighed as she prepared to dip her hand in there.

"Well, as long as you had a good time, Maura," Barry said as he looked at Maura. He had to stifle a laugh as it was totally obvious to him that the blonde had never been drunk, or at least this drunk, before. She nodded back at him and opened her mouth to thank him, but instead a large belch came out, which made her giggle even more. Barry laughed as he made his way back to the centre of the party, but Jane just cringed as Maura's fowl breath hit her right in the face. She ignored it as best she could, and dipped her hand into the tight pocket of Maura's jeans and wriggled around for her keys. Maura started giggling in her ear and pulled her hips away slowly from Jane, making her search for keys even harder, so she placed her other hand on Maura's ass and pulled her back to her.

"Jane," Maura sung teasingly, making Jane stop suddenly. "Oh, don't stop." Maura was having loads of fun, that much was evident, but Jane was burning up from the inside out at how Maura's voice dropped an octave in the most enticing of ways. She had to mentally slap herself otherwise she'd never get Maura sobered up. She finally found the key she had been searching for and yanked it out. Maura partially collapsed onto her again as she fiddled to fit the key into the lock. As soon as it slid in and the door had opened, Jane slammed the door shut and shuffled over to the couch and let Maura down as gracefully as she could. She actually fell and almost bounced off the couch if it wasn't for Jane reaching out and rolling her back on. She sat the blonde up so that she wouldn't choke on any vomit that may make its way up and moved into the kitchen to make them both some coffee.

While Jane was fine with just one, Maura had four coffees before she bounded up and ran to the bathroom, the overflow of liquid finally taking its toll. Jane hopped up just as quickly and followed her in and held her hair back, much in the same ways that Maura had done for her that morning. She pulled her hair out and then tied Maura's hair up with it as she heaved into the bowl once more. Jane stood up and pulled her sleeves up to her elbows before she stuck her hand out and started the shower. When it was nice and warm, but not too warm, she stood Maura up and helped her pull off her jacket, and then her t-shirt, and as her heartbeat quickened dramatically, she unzipped Maura's jeans and pulled them off. They gathered at her ankles, as her shoes were still on, so Jane put the toilet seat down and got Maura to sit so she could pull off her boots and socks.

When Maura was in just her underwear, Jane left her to do the rest herself, as she went out to grab the cleaning products for the toilet. When she came back in, Maura had thankfully pulled the shower curtain closed, and so Jane began cleaning the toilet. When she'd done, she put the products back under the sink in the kitchen then came back in and readied Maura's toothbrush. She opened the curtain just enough and Maura's wet hand took the brush. Jane sighed to herself and gathered up the blonde's scattered clothes and folded them before placing them on Maura's bedside table and placing the beer soaked shirt in a bucket, and pulled back the covers of her bed. She grabbed out the baggy shirt and shorts that she'd worn the night before and placed them on the edge of the bed for her to get into when she'd hopped out of the shower.

"I'm going to get dressed, okay."

"Okay," Maura mumbled from under the shower spray. Jane swiftly made her way back over to her apartment and changed out of her 'party' clothes, which were really just a pair of clean jeans and a nice shirt, and pulled on her pyjamas. She grabbed her coat and pulled it on, not wishing to make a scene crossing the crowd of lively singles in her pyjamas to spend the night sitting up on the couch making sure her drunken friend doesn't throw up on herself. She grabbed her red blanket as well and tucked it under the bulk of her coat and flicked off all her lights before crossing as quickly as she could back to Maura's place. She shook off her coat and dumped it and the blanket on the couch and moved over to the bathroom to check on Maura.

"How you doing?" she asked through the door.

"Better, I think," Maura answered as she opened the door. She had the towel wrapped around her and her hair was wet and slicked back. Jane gasped in excitement at the sight, but forced herself to be helpful by grabbing Maura's clothes from her bed for her to get in to. "Thanks," Maura said as Jane handed her the clothes. The door shut again, making Jane relax a bit more, but she still stayed by the door just in case.

"Have you ever been drunk before?"

"Well, I did get drunk, or what I thought was drunk, with a few of my old friends when we finished high school, but that was just like... a little dizzy." In Maura's mind, she sounded most coherent, but in reality, she was mumbling and fumbling over her words, but Jane got the general idea. Maura opened the door and looked dead into Jane's eyes. "I've never had that much to drink." She sounded immensely embarrassed and upset so Jane wrapped her arm around her and helped her to bed. Maura sat down and waited for Jane to gently help her pivot and lie down. The brunette had previously piled up a few pillows so that Maura didn't have to lie completely horizontal. She pulled the sheets and blankets over Maura's legs and tucked her in. She ran her hand down the blankets to make them smooth then sat down beside Maura's legs.

"The first time I got drunk was... my senior year at high school. We were at this party and I liked this guy, Greg, and I thought he'd notice me if I was a little bit tipsy." Jane said. "Well he noticed me, and avoided me for the rest of the night, because... now, I don't remember this, but apparently I was voicing how much I liked him, and I embarrassed him so much with my severely disgusting drunk flirting that he left."

"Oh..."

"With his girlfriend."

"You didn't know he had a girlfriend?"

"I did, but I must've... I don't know... forgotten temporarily." Maura chuckled to herself as she snuggled further into her mass of pillows and closed her eyes. "You sleepy?"

"Yeah," Maura whispered. Jane stood back up and re-smoothed the blankets and leant forward to softly kiss Maura's forehead. She was doing it before she realised that she was , so she stood bolt upright and switched off Maura's bedside light. She made her way back out to the couch and settled herself on it with her blanket and a few cushions before flicking the television on. She turned it down and flicked to the Friday night movie that was playing, Gladiator, and waited for it to finish before she lay down for sleep.

A loud clang woke Jane up sometime in the middle of the night and when she noticed that the kitchen light was on, she sat up and tried to figure out what the noise was. Maura stood up slowly from behind the kitchen counter with a cheeky apologetic grin on her face.

"Hey," Jane grumbled with a yawn.

"Sorry... I got hungry," Maura said, holding up the saucepan that had clanged to the floor.

"It's okay. What are you making?"

"Mac and cheese; do you want some?"

"No, I'm alright. But I'm up now, so do you want to watch some late night T.V?"

"I'm not sure there'll be much on at this early hour." Jane squinted her eyes as she looked at her watch and tried to figure out what the time was. "It's three in the morning."

"Thanks," she said, still not able to adjust her eyes enough. "We'll find something." She leant over and picked up the remote from the coffee table and switched the television on again. By the time Maura had made her mac and cheese and was seated beside Jane under her blanket on the couch, Jane was still flicking through the channels trying to find something. "You were right."

"Well, press play. I was watching a movie before Barry came around to ask me to the party." Jane pressed play and up came the movie that Maura was half way through, Gladiator.

"No way! I just watched this on T.V. It was the Friday night movie."

"Well, we can watch another movie, if you want?"

"No, it's okay. It's a good movie," Jane said, not minding one bit that she was re-watching the movie from pretty much the same spot that she had only a few hours ago. As the movie went on and Maura ate her midnight snack, Jane's mind wandered. It wandered back several times to her goodnight kiss that she gave Maura. She'd never kissed anyone on the forehead before; not even her mother, or any of her boyfriends. It felt weird, but somehow that wasn't what was bothering her. After a few long minutes of problem solving, she realised what it was: it was alright for her to feel these feelings and to get giddy around Maura, but to physically show her was a no go zone. She could so easily freak out and their friendship would be over, and if it wasn't, they'd constantly be awkward around each other. "Thank god you were drunk," she whispered to herself.

"What?"

"Uh, how's your head?"

"It's okay; why?"

"Um, like you haven't got a headache?" she stumbled, trying to get her mind back together.

"I had an aspirin about an hour ago, so I'm all good now."

"Huh... how many beers did you have?"

"Only four... or five... or six; I can't remember," she laughed. "I was having my second when Barry asked me to wait there while he said hi to someone, but then he didn't come back so I kept drinking. At some point, I guess I got bored and went looking for him and that's when I ran into you. Did I get any beer on you?"

"No, I think you got it all on yourself somehow," Jane chuckled.

"Oh, well, thanks for putting my shirt in a bucket to soak."

"You're welcome."

"I don't remember much after I got in the shower. I think my brain sort of fell asleep, even though the rest of me was still awake."

"Well, not for very long," Jane said, glad that Maura couldn't remember her kissing her. She looked over at the blonde and smiled before looking back at the screen to watch the movie. Maura looked back at the movie too, but she felt bad for lying; for saying that she didn't remember much, because in reality she did remember everything, especially Jane kissing her goodnight.


	10. Chapter 10

**TEN**

There was a buzz from Maura's bedside table, but she was still in that period of sleep before it could fully wake her. Three more buzzes, however over the next ten or so minutes and she was awake and stifling a groan as she reached over to her phone. _Nina. Nina. Nina._ She had three missed calls and countless other messages from Nina, and she frowned. Then it hit her. She was supposed to have lunch with her yesterday. She sprung up off her tummy and sat on her knees, ignoring the sudden throb that echoed through her mind, and dialled Nina.

"Hello?"

"Nina! I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, Maura; it's alright, I just wanted to know that you were okay."

"I am, but I'm so sorry. You see, my neighbour Jane, you met her?"

"Yeah."

"Well, she slept over and then she was sick in the morning and I... I guess I was just thinking about her."

"Oh," Nina said. It wasn't a disappointed 'oh' or an understanding 'oh', but something resembling a combination of the two. Maura didn't take much notice of her tone for she was too busy rambling out what had happened.

"I hung out with her all day and then last night there was a block party sort of thing and I got drunk." Nina's laugh sounded through the phone, causing Maura to pull it away from her ear a bit.

"I bet that was fun."

"I really can't remember, but..." she wriggled to the foot of her bed where she could stick her head around the divider to see the couch where Jane was flat out on it. "Jane stayed over, so I must've been out of it quite a bit."

"Oh, Jane's there, huh?"

"Yeah, she's asleep still. It's actually kind of cute." Nina didn't say anything for a little while, but Maura could've sworn she pulled the phone away from her mouth to giggle a bit to herself. "Uh... so do you want to catch up sometime?"

"Yeah," Nina said, the last of her giggles finishing. "How about after class this Tuesday?"

"Sounds good."

"Maur..." Jane moaned from the other side of the apartment.

"Jane's up, so I suppose I should ask her about what we got up to last night while I was drunk."

"Sure; bye," Nina said before hanging up to laugh out loud. Either Maura and Jane were an item, or the blonde should be more careful of how she phrases things. Nina's mind swam with all the things the two of them could've "gotten up to" last night. She shook her head clear of the ideas, telling herself to not meddle, but rather watch from afar and enjoy... maybe grab some popcorn every now and then.

Maura slowly stood up from bed and walked over to Jane who was snuggled up to a cushion on the couch with the blanket more on the floor than her. She bent over and picked it up before draping it back over Jane's legs. "Morning, Maura," Jane mumbled. Maura stood up with a smile, but it suddenly vanished and she screwed her face up in pain.

"Oh, shit!"

"What's wrong?" Jane asked, pushing the blanket off and standing up. She placed her hands on Maura's upper arms and bent her knees so she could look into her eyes.

"My head," Maura groaned. Jane let out a sigh of relief and turned the two of them so she could sit Maura down on the couch. She crossed to the kitchen and opened cupboards until she found a glass and then filled it up with cool water from the fridge.

"Where do you keep your aspirin?"

"Left cupboard," Maura pointed, keeping one hand over her eyes to somehow dull the pain. Jane opened the cupboard and grabbed out a little box and popped out two tablets for Maura. She placed the box back up in the cupboard and closed it, but before she could return to the couch, a sudden wave of sickness hit her. She took in a slow breath and let it out even slower, feeling sweat on her brow. Once it settled a little and she'd crossed back over to Maura and made sure she was alright, she quickly crossed the hall and ran the rest of the way to her bathroom. She was glad she hadn't accepted any of Maura's midnight mac and cheese snack for she would be tasting it come back up right about now. Instead all that came up was mostly acidic water sludge and she couldn't be bothered to try and figure out what that was.

Five minutes later she was finished her new morning ritual and was now trying not to throw up again due to the strong smell of her cleaning products. She wanted to take a shower, but decided to take care of Maura first since she'd never had a hangover before. She crossed back over to the blonde's apartment and found her lying back down. "Hey, any better?"

"No," Maura whined.

"Do you wanna have a shower? That usually helps me wake up and feel a little fresher."

"Okay," she said as she stood up with Jane's assistance. Her acute sense of smell picked up the cleaning products on Jane and she stopped. "How are you?" she asked, gesturing to Jane's tummy.

"I'm fine. I'm used to it." Even though Jane smiled, and meant it, Maura felt bad for her. She hated that someone could get used to something so horrible and sickening. When she was in high school she'd befriended this girl who was a little bit of an outsider. One time, these jocks knocked her pile of books off the desk and kept walking. When Maura had asked if she was alright, she simply said "I'm used to it." She often wondered how many people where 'used to' pain and discomfort, bullying and being ostracized, abuse and torment. She hadn't ever gotten used to anything like that so whenever it did happen she'd crumble into a mess; maybe not then and there because she was strong enough to ignore it at the time, but later when she was alone in a toilet cubicle or in her room, she would scowl and tears would run down her face.

How someone could get used to that, she never knew.

"You'll be alright?" Jane's voice broke her train of thought, for which she was thankful, so she nodded.

"I'll be fine. You go have a shower." Jane left her and so she closed the door and began to slowly undress. She supposed that in Jane's case, where she was used to morning sickness, it wasn't all that bad because... well, she was pregnant, and being sick was usually part of the whole having a baby thing. But for instances where becoming emotionally and mentally immune to something wasn't part of any deal as such, it was harder to comprehend. As she stepped into the shower and turned it on, she wondered what Jane had gotten used to in her life. She wouldn't ask her about it, because most likely, they would be painful memories. She'd just let it run ramped in her mind. Maybe someday in the future they would talk about this as they got to know each other. She'd hate to think that Jane had gotten used to saying that she'd gotten used to things, but sometimes that was the shitty kind of thing that happened. She wanted to protect Jane and wrap her up in her arms to stroke her skin and brush her hair until she fell asleep.

"Maura, stop it," she told herself sternly. She knew that deep down she would most likely develop a crush on Jane, if she hadn't already, but she'd just moved to this new city and she didn't want to make things more difficult for herself or others. She'd tell herself to stop until it did stop.

Hopefully.

It always started this way, though, she argued with herself. She told herself no, but that was as good as her parents saying "no more chocolate". It made her want more. It wasn't so bad the first time she'd crushed on a girl. She was only the most popular girl at school who had her minions flocking around her at all minutes of the day buying her lunch and doing her homework for her. Maura was just the dork who sat in the corner with her glasses and sketched the back of her head as she sat across the cafeteria. It was such a pretty head with shimmering flowing black hair that flicked like a horses tail when it galloped. Maura had told herself no every morning before she went to school, but she had at least one class with the girl every day, so that plan went swimmingly. At least the girl ignored her existence. Heaven forbid she actually smiled at Maura, then she would've turned into one of her minions and then proceeded to embarrass herself by telling her of her feelings.

"Thank god," Maura said as she stuck her head under the spray of water. Crushes were the most dangerous things she'd ever come across, in both a poetic and literal sense. So much love and admiration was spurted onto one person, and so intensely too, so it would always become stupidly hard to ever get over them. But then one day they would, just like that, and all Maura could do when she did was shake her head at herself thinking, 'she's not that great.'

The next time was more than dangerous, it was almost fatal. Maura had once read that after four months of crushing, one either got over their crush or began to fall in love. Maura was pretty sure she'd fallen in love within a minute of meeting her. She was tall, she was smart, she was mysterious, she was enticing, but oh so taboo. She reminded Maura of those strawberries that were coated in chocolate. They were just a fruit and chocolate, just as Maura's professor was a brain in a woman's body, but the sheer combination of the two was erotic somehow. Exciting, mesmerising and enthralling; and she knew that as soon as she even thought about touching, she would regret it; maybe not so much with the strawberries, but her professor, yes.

"Was it bad that I called her 'professor' in bed?" Maura asked the shower rose. She'd walked into her first college lecture room to start the beginning of her life, and suddenly with one 'good morning' passing by her lips, Maura's world froze. She'd told herself to stop then and there, but it was too late. She was already in. The Professor looked up and glanced around the room into everyone's eyes and immediately started spitting out words. She'd pointed to one boy and said "landscapes", and he nodded; a girl and said "architecture and structures", and she nodded; four other people and they all nodded. She looked up at Maura. She frowned a little as if Maura's aura wasn't clear enough, then finally relaxed her facial muscles again and said "landscapes", before turning to pace across the room. She was wrong.

Maura grinned devilishly to herself and raised her hand. "Yes?" The Professor said after a moment, seemingly disgusted that someone would impact on her stage time.

"I don't draw landscapes."

"What?"

"You were wrong. I don't draw landscapes."

"Oh? What do you draw?" she asked. Maura ran through all the pictures she could remember drawing and when she opened her mouth to say 'people', she said something entirely different, making The Professor smile back at her, just as devilishly.

"Women." Her heart raced out of her chest. _Why did I say that?_ Maura screamed at herself internally as she glanced down at The Professor's tightly buttoned blouse. _That's why._

"Well, then..." she raised her eyebrows.

"Maura Isles."

"Maura, I was wrong. Forgive me?" She tilted her head coyly and the words rolled off her tongue in the sexiest tone half the class had ever heard.

"Of course," Maura said. Was The Professor flirting with her? Part of her brain was boiling in the sex that was dripping on the edge of both women's tongues, feeling like they were the only one's there, but the other part of her brain was acutely aware that close to a hundred sets of eyes were just playing tennis between the two of them.

Yes, Maura was definitely in love.

At the end of the lesson she'd walked herself down to The Professor and smiled at her. She tried to do it sweetly, but apparently her mouth wanted her to flirt some more. "Well, Miss Isles. I could've sworn you were a landscaper."

"I suppose I could change if you really feel I-"

"Oh god, no; you do what you do." The Professor stopped flirting for a moment there and was just an ordinary teacher encouraging individuality and ideas in her students... but then, "So... women, huh?"

"You know, I meant to say 'people'. I don't know why I said 'women'." She shifted on her feet and whacked her sweaty hands around to her back then swallowed thickly.

"I think I do," The Professor said with... a wink. _Oh god..._ She followed silently out of the room and smiled her goodbye before skittering down the hall and retreating around the next corner she could find. She took a few deep breaths that did absolutely nothing to help her. She stood up and prepared to duck her head around to watch The Professor walk in the other direction, but when she did, the other woman was right there. Her face almost went straight into her bosom if it wasn't for her incredibly quick reflex to stand up.

"Uh..."

"Well," The Professor started as she stood close, a little too close, to Maura's side. Her bust gently grazed Maura's arm. Maura looked up worriedly, but, almost as if she'd been possessed by the devil inside this woman, she smiled back at her with that glint in her eyes. "That was fun."

"Yep," Maura said as she turned the shower taps off. "That was _fun_."

Maura stepped out of her shower and slid the curtain back across so the water could drip off and she used her hand to wipe away the steam on the mirror. She looked herself in the eye and stared. This girl that was looking back at her, this sweet, only ever been drunk once, blonde art geek was the same girl who had a foul mouth when provoked (or aroused), been drunk only once, yes, but stoned quite a few times, was always blonde but rolled around in a bed covered in sweat, pencil stains and lipstick. She'd left the old Maura, the wild Maura, back in New York, and was now the angel of a person that she was before she ever came across The Professor.

She'd thought, long ago, that love would make her feel all glow-y and warm and she could sleep forever if her love's arms were around her, and sex would leave her tired and content like The Hollies' song. When she went to uni she found out that love could also make her feel high all the time, and didn't want to sleep when she could be making out in secret, and sex... oh, the sex.

She closed her eyes at the memories of all those nights... and days... and lunch breaks. "Oh, my god!" Maura exclaimed, bringing a hand to her forehead. "I was such a slut."

"What?" _Oh shit!_

"Nothing, Jane! I'll be right out."

Jane nodded and moved to the couch and sat down. She picked up a book that was on the side of the coffee table and pretended that she was interested in what it was saying. She was pretending to herself, because she really didn't want to believe that she'd heard Maura call herself that. She would never think that Maura was a slut; even if she'd had a lot of sex. That just meant that she liked sex.

"No biggie," she said to herself. Maura stepped out of the bathroom with her pyjamas back on and her damp hair pulled up into a bun at the back of her head.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," Jane said, still a little confused.

"Did you, uh... hear much... of what I said?"

"I'm not sure... Did you call yourself... a..."

"A slut. Yeah. I'll tell you what that was about... um... sometime. You need to hear more good stuff about me before you know that bad stuff."

"Okay," Jane said, not entirely convinced, but Maura was looking at her with these puppy dog eyes that were begging her to just go with it, so she smiled. "Okay."


	11. Chapter 11

**ELEVEN**

The afternoon sun glowed into the café as Maura and Nina sipped on their lattes. Maura had ordered a muffin too, as she forgot to bring some fruit for a mid-class snack, and her tummy was rumbling non-stop for the last twenty minutes of the lecture. They had been discussing their assignment that was handed out that day. It was their final assessment and although they had known what it was and what they should do, Maura hadn't even prepared any ideas. Nina pulled out their assessment task sheet and snapped it as she began to read the task in the most professional voice that she could, attempting to imitate their stuffy professor. It did make Maura miss The Professor, but that was a bad thing, so she shook her head and listened to Nina.

"You task, if you're willing to accept it-"

"It doesn't say that!" Maura butted in.

"Good, you're listening."

"I was listening," Maura whispered, to which Nina gave her a look of 'no you were not' and continued.

"Your task is to draw a series in your preferred art style over the next four months to show change. You will then need to prepare a final addition of this task for the end of semester to show the result of this change." Maura slouched back in her chair as her hand reached and rested on the edge of the table, her fingers picking at the muffin. "So what are you going to draw?" Nina asked.

"I have _no_ clue."

"Well, you have ideas," she said as she pulled out a piece of paper from her bag. On it was scribbled words and basic pictures in a comic strip, presumably so she could visualise what her series would look like when placed next to each other.

"Nope," Maura said with a smile, although this was a pretty bad thing.

"Oh, Maura; what are we going to do with you?"

"I guess I've been spending so much time with Jane, that I-"

"You could draw Jane."

"No! She doesn't want me to draw her."

"You've asked?"

"Yeah, when we first met, but..."

"Well, it's been a couple of weeks, so maybe she'd be more up to it since you're not just strangers anymore."

"Maybe."

"Well, she's shared her body with you in some way, so-"

"What!?" Maura spat, sitting forward and slamming her hands down on the table in disbelief.

"Aren't you two a couple."

"Hell, no; Jane's straight. Doesn't the fact that she's pregnant give that away?"

"I'm not saying she's gay, but she's definitely into you, so I just assumed."

"You've only met her once!"

"Yeah, and there was some serious eye-sex going on there, and when you were telling me that she stayed over when you got drunk... It sure as hell sounded like something was up."

"In what way?"

"You said, I believe, "I have to ask Jane what we got up to last night"."

"I didn't mean that we'd... you know."

"Well, it sounded like that. I'm sorry that I got it wrong, but c'mon... you like her, don't you?"

"Yeah, she's a great friend, but-"

"But one person can't have eye-sex alone; there has to be two people there and it sure as hell wasn't me."

"Well, I do kinda like her..."

"Mmhm..."

"Stop! I can't do this again," Maura said sternly. Nina sat up straight and looked confused wondering as to what she meant by 'again'. "I've been fucked over by this before, and I can't do that again."

"What? Love?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's what love does; it fucks you up and pushes you aside, but you can't let that define you. What if Jane was the goddamn love of your life and you passed her by because you were afraid."

"I just moved here, and Jane's pregnant! It's wrong."

"Who says it's wrong?" Nina waited for Maura to try to come up with an answer, then continued on. "I'm sure she's happy to have found a friend as nice and beautiful as you and I'm pretty sure the sex between-"

"Oh my god, stop!" Nina chuckled to herself, although Maura would probably steer clear of her for a while, or at least this topic, or anything remotely related to it. "And it's not just me. The father of Jane's baby just up and left her, so I'm pretty sure she'd prefer to just be friends. Not that she's even attracted to me, although..." Maura regretted it the second that one word passed her lips.

"Although...?" She took a deep breath before talking again, trying to somewhat calm her nerves back down.

"She kissed my cheek the other night."

"And..."

"That was it. We finished watching a movie, I went to bed and she slept on the couch."

"Oh, but have you seen each other since then?"

"Yeah, we're neighbours," Maur said sarcastically. "But she had a doctor's appointment yesterday after work so I haven't seen her since Sunday. She still has to work a full day to get by, so she's totally whacked by the time she gets home anyway." Nina nodded as she looked at her watch, noting that she wasn't going to win this battle of sorts today. She needed to keep tabs on it though, so...

"Lunch on Friday?"

"Sure." They had an early morning lecture so a good full lunch afterwards would be sweet. Maura placed her money down on the table as she shoved the last of her muffin in her mouth. _Be lady-like, Maura_, her mother's voice rang in her ears. She shrugged and smiled a big toothy, muffin covered smile at Nina as she watched her fill her mouth, making the other woman laugh. They walked outside and to the bus stop for Nina to catch and said their goodbyes. Maura was sure that Nina would bring up the whole 'Jane' thing again, but until then she had to get up the guts to ask Jane if she could draw her throughout her pregnancy. She knew the likelihood of Jane saying yes was infinitely small, but she prepared herself anyway.

She thought about how she'd like Jane to pose and if she'd wear clothes or just have sheets draped strategically and if she'd use natural lighting or not. It dawned on her that she hadn't drawn from a live model since she was back at NYU. She and The Professor had just had some of the hottest, spiciest, most delicious pizza either of them had ever had as they lay in bed. The pizza was a post-sex snack, of which was also very hot and delicious. When The Professor had answered the door in not a stitch of clothing to grab the pizza from the delivery boy, Maura realised just how much of a boundary pusher she was having an affair with.

They had eaten the pizza, alternating between feeding each other and eating off each other, not even caring about the once clean sheets, and then Maura pulled out her scrap book to sketch. The Professor had given her a lingering kiss, teasingly running her tongue across the blonde's bottom lip as she nibbled it, then rolled over so that Maura couldn't draw her face. She always did that, and that suited Maura just fine. Occasionally she lay on her back with a sheet or her arm over her face so that Maura could enjoy the way her pencil graced around the swell of The Professor's breast, or the shadows cast on the bed as she bent her knees and crossed her legs. Even in after sex romantic sketching sessions, she wanted her student to be able to explore their artistic talents in every way.

That was just the kind of considerate person she was. She was considerate in other ways too, Maura remembered, but again, she pushed it out of her mind and kept walking towards her apartment building and up to her place. Jane would still be at work, so Maura decided to open up her notepad and write down any other ideas she could conjure up in case Jane did say no. Once she'd started thinking, she found that she couldn't stop, and soon enough it was growing dark outside and the cool air was coming in through the open window. She closed her notepad and prepared for her shower, all the while thinking of the ideas she'd come up with. She liked some, thinking that they would be interesting to do, and that they would probably get her a very good mark, but it was no use, because she really just wanted to do Jane. "_Draw_ Jane! I want to _draw_ Jane!"

An hour later, Maura had showered and was dressed in her baggy sweats; the ones that she'd bought without her mother knowing, because they weren't just sweats, they were two sizes too big, so they pooled at her feet and when she pulled the hoodie on, it covered her eyes. They were a "dream buy", as Maura had called them. She'd always seen characters on television shows wearing sweats in their downtime, and even other people at NYU who were too tired to get into a pair of jeans, and so Maura always dreamt of owning a pair. Now she did and she loved shuffling around her apartment in them. If she shuffled too fast her pants began to fall down, but she liked it when they sat at the very top of her bottom threatening to slip right over. It made her feel so rebellious.

She'd put an asterisk next to the ideas for her assessment that she liked, but she was still going to ask Jane. She'd heard the brunette arrive home about ten minutes ago, and she decided to let her relax a bit after work, maybe have a shower, before she went over in her adorable sweats carrying a pizza that she'd had delivered, hoping that she could maybe persuade Jane with food. She wanted to begin a preliminary sketch of how she'd draw Jane to show change, but she didn't want to get ahead of herself. She looked at her wall clock and gave up. She wanted to see Jane.

She grabbed the pizza from where it sat on the kitchen counter and skipped over to her door and opened it at the same time Jane opened hers. "Hi," she squeaked as she jumped back, surprised that Jane was right there.

"Hey, I was just coming around to see if you wanted to grab some dinner..." Jane looked down at the pizza box that balanced on Maura's hand. "But you've already got some, so never mind."

"It's for you!" Maura exclaimed as Jane closed her door and turned to go down the stairs.

"Aw, thanks." She turned back to her door and unlocked it. "You've already had some?" She opened the door and walked in with Maura following her.

"Um..." Jane opened the box and saw the pizza still whole and looked up at Maura with a confused yet amused look on her face. "It's kind of a bribe."

"What for?" Jane asked as she placed down the box and re-picked up a piece of cheesy pizza.

"I got my final art assessment today-"

"Oh, that's great. What are you going to do?"

"You." Jane's face went blank of emotions as she stared back at Maura. The blonde really did have to be careful of how she phrased things. "I mean, I'd like to draw you."

"Oh... oh.."

"I know you said that you didn't want me to draw you," Maura started as she stepped closer to Jane who was backed up against the kitchen counter. "But the topic is 'change' and what's a more beautiful and natural change in a person's body than pregnancy." Jane stood silent for a few moments as Maura ran her eyes over her face trying to read a response. It was almost a minute and Maura was pretty sure the brunette hadn't even blinked. "Jane?"

Jane would've responded with a yes instantly but her mind was cloudy and she knew exactly why. If Maura drew her; she'd seen Maura's drawings; she'd most likely be wearing no clothes or very minimal clothes. That wasn't that big of a deal as she liked her body, but one; she was going to be in that state of undress around someone she thought was intensely attractive and beyond alluring, and two; she was pregnant. She would be naked and pregnant, which wasn't a big deal at the moment as it barely showed that she had a tummy on her, but months from now she was going to like the shape of her body less and less, and that worried her.

"Jane?"

"Uh... Maura, I..."

"It's okay, I have other ideas; I don't have to draw you, I just... well, I thought it would be nice." Jane smiled softly as Maura dipped her head in defeat. "Besides I'd probably get a really good grade." Jane laughed and reached her hand out to graze the soft, slightly freckled skin of Maura's forearm.

"Maura, I'd really like to; like, I know you now and I'd be totally happy for you to draw me, but my body's gonna change and I'm probably not gonna like it, and I'd just feel a little self-conscious of you drawing me like that. Besides, you'd probably want me naked, right?"

"Yeah," Maura had to get her mind out of the gutter. "Yes, um, but I'd drape a sheet strategically across you," she motioned dramatically, before grabbing Jane and turning her side on and standing behind her so that they could see each other in the tall mirror Jane had across the room. "And I could place your arm in a way that would cover your br..." She cleared her throat as she slowly held Jane's bent arm out so that it covered Jane's bust in the image of them in the mirror. "Your breasts." Maura looked at the two of them in the mirror, her body practically pressed up against Jane's. At her height, she could nuzzle her nose into Jane's hair and smell her; press a kiss to her neck as she snaked her arms around the taller woman's waist; dip her hands into Jane's front pockets.

She stepped back and moved back around to face Jane before continuing, feeling that having the other woman that close to her own body was a recipe for disaster. "And shadows can be sketched in so you don't appear so 'on display'." Jane nodded at her so gently that it could put her to sleep. How, she had no clue, but it could happen. "And I will do everything humanly possible for you to feel comfortable with your body as it changes." Jane smiled softly at her as she nodded again.

"Yes."

"Yes? Like, I can draw you?"

"Yes. I would like you to draw me so that you get an awesome grade for your final art assessment." Maura sighed in relief as she smiled the toothiest smile she had in a very long time. She had been smiling like that a lot lately since she moved to Chicago, and she knew it was because of Jane, but it was just a friendly happiness. _Friendly... Yeah, you keep telling yourself that_, she thought to herself as she accepted a slice of pizza from Jane and sat down on the couch to watch some television.


	12. Chapter 12

**TWELVE**

"So, Maura," The Professor whispered as she knelt down beside the young woman's desk. It was the middle of class while everyone was doing their own sketches, silently, so nearly everyone within six feet of Maura could see and hear what was going on. The Professor turned Maura's page towards her to gain a better view of the woman on the page. It was her. "Would you like to draw me?" Maura's palms were sweating and she could feel everyone's eyes on her. If she could've died that second, she would've, but alas, she was not meant to kick the bucket at such a time and would have to endure the awkwardness of the situation. She opened her mouth to speak, a slight squeak making its way out, but that was about it. She turned to look at The Professor, hoping that the woman in her mid-thirties was merely joking, but her face was mere inches from Maura's; her eyes looking deep into hers and her lips moist and full. Before Maura could stutter any more, The Professor stood and made her way back down to the front of the lecture room.

In all fairness, The Professor _was _seducing her, so why she didn't expect to get her heart broken, she did not know. "Holy shit..." the boy next to her whispered. "That was better than porn." _Ick_, Maura thought as she screwed up her face. Boys had such a weird way of ruining moments like these; not that she thought it was a 'moment' as such, but there was something there. She knew it was bad and wrong and would probably end in expulsion from the university, but it felt like she was possessed. Even her usual clear and logical mind was cloudy and somehow that made it seem fun. She looked up from her sketching and it was as if The Professor knew she was going to do it, because she was eagerly glaring up at the young blonde with a devilish grin on her face. Maura let out a breath of air in amusement and slight arousal, and hoped to God this feeling was mutual.

The rest of class went slowly, too slowly, and when it was finally over, Maura sulked down to The Professor's desk. She tried to make it seem like she was equally trying to seduce her teacher, but that wasn't working so well. She almost tripped over the last step down, instead stumbling towards the older woman who was standing in front of her desk. The Professor reached out and steadied Maura, with one hand on her arm and the other on her side, just below her breast. Immediately, Maura's heartbeat quickened and when she looked up into the other woman's eyes, there was a mix of concern and attraction. Perhaps this could work, but right now, all Maura could focus on was that hand that continued to rest just below her bust.

"Are you okay?" The Professor asked. Maura half expected a thumb to gently caress some part of Maura where her hand lay, perhaps just across her sweater up to the swell of her bust. The Professor stepped back and smiled however, which surprised the young art student, but she was thankful that she had.

"Yes, Professor Swann. Thank you."

"Anytime," The Professor said and turned to gather up her folders and books on art. Maura sighed in relief and slowly made her way to the door, but when she reached it, she stopped and glanced back. It became apparent to Maura in that instant that this woman may only act as a powerful seductress around other people to earn respect or her own place in this big wide world, but when it was just her and someone that she maybe cared about, she was a truer and more honest person. If it was possible, in that moment, Maura fell in love just a little bit more.

"Maura! You coming today, or what?" Nina called from half way down the hall. Maura had paused at the door to her Chicago lecture room, and glanced back, just as she had at her New York lecture room when she was falling in love. She looked back at Nina who was standing amidst the crowd with her hands up in confusion. She quickly scurried into the mass of students and dodged her way through them to reach Nina.

"Sorry. I just got a flashback of NYU."

"A good one?"

"Kind of." The look on her face told Nina to leave it there, like perhaps at the time it had been good, but now it was a tainted memory. The two of them walked out to the front where Maura was to catch a bus back home. Nina still had some "serious study" to do, as she put it, so she was going to hang out in the library for a few more hours yet.

"Are you okay?" Maura stopped and looked up to Nina from the pavement. She looked a little unsure of what Nina was referring to, so the other woman clarified. "About before... Your memory?"

"Oh, yeah; I'm fine," Maura said, reaffirming Nina with a touch to her forearm.

"I just thought I'd brought up something bad."

"Well, that's not entirely untrue. The memory was a good one."

"But..."

"_But_, the memories since were not so nice."

"Oh... Sorry." Maura's bus pulled up and the two women walked a little closer to it.

"It's okay, Nina; you did nothing wrong. I did it to myself."

"Well, maybe you'll feel better once you get home and see Jane," Nina said with a wink. Maura shook her head with a smile, choosing not to open that can of worms again. "See you!"

"Bye," Maura finished as she stepped onto the bus and grabbed a seat by the window. She waved a small timid wave to Nina as the bus pulled away, but her mind was already back to her memories.

"Professor Swann?" Maura said in astonishment as she walked through her local supermarket picking up a few things for dinner. She'd been foolish enough to offer to make it for her family which included all the aunts and uncles and cousins that were in town for her father's birthday. She had to make a big stupendous dinner that would both fill and please the palette of each person at the table. She was down an aisle looking at pasta when out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a very unique pair of shoes that she'd only ever seen one person wear. She looked up and sure enough it was The Professor.

"Oh, hello, Maura. How are you?"

"I'm fine." She was actually a genuinely sweet person when she wasn't trying to seduce Maura and scare the rest of the class. "How are you?"

"I'm well, I suppose."

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Oh, no. I'll be alright." She held her hands in front of her, nervously it seemed, and bowed her head.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine, really. Just... I just feel like a completely different person when I'm not teaching and I don't like it."

"What do you mean?" Maura asked, not even caring that her mother wanted her home within the hour to start cooking, and it was almost up.

"Well," The Professor started. "When I'm teaching, the students sort of fear me, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"You don't fear me, do you?" Maura quickly raked her eyes over The Professor's body, a recently familiar feeling settling in her tummy and just a little bit lower. She looked back into the other woman's eyes and smiled cheekily.

"Not in the way everyone else does, I'm sure."

"Cheeky!" Professor Swann exclaimed, making the pair of them laugh.

"Sorry; yes, I do know that most students fear you. You're very commanding of attention, and not in a bad way. You have experience and knowledge that we don't and might never have. Your eyes have seen things that have allowed you to draw things, I'm sure, that we'll never set eyes upon, and that gives you the upper hand."

"Thank you."

"Besides you're grading us, so we'd better listen up." The Professor smiled at Maura then, in an almost loving way.

"So, I'm that person when I'm Professor Swann, but when I'm just me, I'm a little awkward, and it makes me act very quiet and introverted. That's all." Maura smiled like she knew exactly what she was talking about, which she did. She was a brainy kid at school and so when she was around other brainy people, she was out there and talkative, but when she was just by herself, she was quiet and rather shy.

"Professor Swann-"

"Maggie, please. I'm not your teacher right now."

"Okay; Maggie, then... Would you like to come to dinner tonight?"

"Oh, well, yes, I'd like that very much, unless..." she paused, looking into Maura's rather full trolley. "You have people coming over."

"Oh, well, yeah, we do. It's my dad's birthday and all the family is here and I offered to make dinner, but I don't really like half of them, so it'd be great if you could come."

"Oh, Maura; I can't impose like that."

"No, it's fine. I'm cooking, so I get to decide who comes." Professor Swann smiled, seemingly giving in, but stopped and took a step back.

"We can have dinner another time when you're family isn't involved," she said looking at the floor, but almost as if activated by a switch, she slowly glanced her eyes up to Maura, keeping her head tilted in a very seductive manner. "Sometime when it's just the two of us." The smile that spread itself across her face was truly mesmerising to Maura, and almost as if under hypnosis, she nodded and agreed to such a dinner. "Good then. We'll talk soon," The Professor whispered huskily as she closed in towards Maura, but then glided off to her side and passed her, the tips of her fingertips grazing Maura's thigh.

Maura bit her lip when the touch was gone, even though it still felt as though it was there. She looked down at her watch casually and bounced out of her skin when she realised she'd been long over an hour and she still didn't have everything. She dashed through the store and within the next hour she was standing over a steaming bowl of fettuccini carbonara.

As the bus pulled up to her stop, Maura could practically smell the rich Italian food wafting up to her nose. She opened her eyes from her trance just in time to see Jane pass by out her window. She quickly gathered up her bag and jacket and jumped off the bus, jogging after the brunette. "Jane!"

Jane turned around with her hand on her tummy and a department store bag in her hand. She smiled brightly the instant she saw Maura jogging towards her, even though her hair splayed across her face and her jacket was slipping out of her grasp despite her efforts to grip it tighter, and...

"You should wear a better bra if you're going to run," Jane said as Maura neared her. _Oh, shit!_ She immediately thought afterwards. _I was staring at Maura's boobs!_

Maura stopped with a smile as only one thought ran through her brain. _Jane was staring at my boobs_.

"Sorry, I didn't mean..."

"It's okay," Maura puffed. "What's in the bag?" she asked pointing to it as she and Jane began heading back to their apartment block.

"Oh, it's kind of embarrassing actually. I've been struggling to do my pants up for the last couple of days. I'm afraid my baby bump is beginning to show."

"Oh, Jane; that's not embarrassing. That's beautiful. You have a healthy baby growing inside of you and that's amazing."

"Oh, I know that; the embarrassing thing is that I kept forgetting to go shopping for new pants." Maura smiled at Jane, understanding now what she meant, then looked up and down the street for cars before they crossed. A car was coming around the corner, but Jane wasn't looking. Maura stuck her free left arm out across Jane's waist and hooked her hand around it making her stop. "Maura..." Jane said as she looked down at Maura who had to turn herself towards Jane to stop her as the brunette was standing to her right. Maura looked up into Jane's eyes and watched as the taller woman licked her lips, almost in slow motion.

Suddenly the car came around the corner and caused a gust of air to blow Maura's hair up around her face. Once the car was gone, Jane reached up and pulled the stray hairs from Maura's face and tucked them behind her ear. "Sorry," Maura managed. "The car."

"Right. Thank you." Maura smiled nervously for a second before stepping back away from Jane. She re-tucked her hairs behind her ear, tracing her fingers across her cheek like Jane had done. They crossed the street and made their way back to the apartments in silence, only saying thank you when they opened and held the front door for each other. When they reached their floor, Maura grabbed out her keys and stuck them in her lock, but turned back to Jane.

"Sorry."

"About what?"

"Touching you."

"Maura, you stopped me from getting hit by a car."

"Yeah, but I didn't have to... hold your waist."

"You know," Jane started as she turned fully towards Maura and rested against her door. "I've been super anxious any time anyone comes near my tummy, even myself. I get nervous that I'll hurt my baby. When you touched me I wasn't nervous. As in, I trusted you... to keep... both of us safe," Jane said, gesturing between her chest and her tummy. "I trust you, Maura, so don't freak, please. It's okay."

"Okay. I trust you too." Jane wanted to say that she knew, but she didn't want to sound all Han Solo to Leia when she said 'I love you'. She nodded and smiled instead and turned back to her door and unlocked it.

"Dinner tonight?" she asked before she closed her door.

"Yeah, I'd love that." They shared a giddy smile before giving up and closing the door to shake their heads at themselves.


	13. Chapter 13

**THIRTEEN**

_What the hell was that!?_ Jane asked herself. She was giggly and she swore she could feel her whole body heating up; a full body blush. Jane was a person who said sarcastic comments instead of giving advice; she got more satisfaction out of beating the boys when she was a kid than anything else; she used to laugh at the girls who giggled when their boyfriends gave them a kiss or a flower on Valentine's Day. Now she'd gotten the same giggles and she wasn't even dating Maura. Not that she saw herself _dating_ Maura, except she kind of did, but never in her life had she felt so close to a person and so happy to be in their presence than she was with the short blonde. She'd had more intimate moments with Maura in the few weeks that she'd known her than she'd ever had with any man she had a relationship and sex with. When Maura talked, every word was exciting to hear and watch as it fell out of her glorious mouth. Each movement she made captured Jane's interest and enthralled her like it was a performance by the Russian Ballet.

And when they looked at each other, when their eyes met, Jane's heart skipped a beat... or ten. "I've got a crush on Maura," she whispered to herself as she pushed herself off the door and made her way to the bathroom.

She closed the door behind her and began stripping off. She'd spilt a cold pot of coffee down her front early into her shift that day and so had to leave it for a few hours before she could try and clean herself up. By the time she'd gotten a moment to go to the bathroom, her shirt was stained, and if she wanted to get the coffee out that badly, she'd have to deal with a wet front for the next hour. She'd already done that today, so she just left it. It didn't stand out that much, but she knew it was there.

She pulled her pants and panties off and dumped them into her laundry basket, but kept her shirt and bra in the sink to wash later. She really wanted to have a nice long shower at the moment though because of her recently realised feelings for Maura. She shrugged as she stepped into the shower, not really knowing why a shower would help her calm down about this, but wanted to anyway. She arched her neck back as she placed her hand on the tap to turn it on, but all of a sudden her phone rang, and because she had Maura on the brain, she picked it up without looking at the caller ID and said "Maura?"

"No, Susie. Are you okay?"

"What, yeah. Why would you..."

"I saw what happened this afternoon." For some unknown reason, Jane's heart began beating erratically as if she'd done something wrong or illegal, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was.

"What happened?"

"Maura stopped you from getting hit by that car?"

"Oh, yeah."

"And then you two had a moment."

"That was not a mo... Where were you when all this supposedly happened?"

"In the post office across the street from you; I was getting a card for my cousin's birthday, but that's not important. You cannot seriously tell me that you don't feel for this girl."

"Susie..."

"I mean, if someone saved me from getting run over I'd thank them, sure, but stay in that _embrace_ of sorts and then _brush her hair away_!?"

"Susie, I like Maura."

"I know you do, but you just don't realise how much. Like, that was a seriously tender eye sex moment and-"

"I have a crush on Maura, Susie."

"You're darn right you do. Wait, what?"

"I. Have. A. Crush. On. Maura."

"Yeah, I thought that's what you said. When did you figure that out?"

"About five minutes ago."

"I knew it. She saved your life and then you fell in love with her."

"Okay, it's not like my life was ever in serious danger, and I said _crush_! I'm not in love with Maura."

"Yet..." Susie whispered, but Jane caught it.

"What?"

"I have to go, but we'll talk about this tomorrow at work, okay? Bye bye." And then she was gone.

"Susie!" Jane yelled at her phone in mock anger. She shook her head at her nerdy friend, and placed her phone down so that she could take her shower.

An hour later as Jane sat on her bed twirling her hair between her fingers, flipping through a baby catalogue that she had snagged from her doctor's waiting room, there was a knock at the door. She closed the catalogue and tossed it across her bed where it landed on the floor. She hadn't meant for it to go all the way off, but it didn't matter. She'd get it later. She walked over and opened the door to see Maura in a pair of skinny jeans and an off the shoulder shirt with a bit of sauce splodged on it.

"Dinner's ready." Jane heard what Maura had said and re-noticed the sauce on the blonde's shirt.

"You made dinner?"

"Yeah, I've had pizza too much this week."

"Me too," Jane agreed.

"Good, so..." Maura started as she slowly stepped backwards across the hall to her apartment where the door was slightly ajar. She beckoned Jane with her fingers and this look that made Jane think that if they hadn't already agreed that this was for dinner she'd be in for something entirely different. She grabbed her key from its spot and shoved it into her pocket before following Maura over to her door. When Jane was only a whisper from Maura, the blonde opened the door and stepped in.

She'd dimmed the lights and set her table like it was in some little restaurant in Tuscany. She had some jazz playing, and Jane suddenly felt quite pampered. "What's all this?" she asked as she, too stepped in and Maura closed the door behind her.

"Well, this is my thank you for helping me with my art assignment."

"I haven't done anything yet."

"Well, I'm probably going to continue bribing you with food and stuff until it's all finished, and by then it'll probably be a habit, so lucky you!" Jane chuckled at Maura's explanation as she walked over to take a seat.

"Thank you. What are we having?" It smelt Italian and it looked Italian, but she'd never really seen it before."

"It's pasta bake." Jane titled her head, telling Maura that she'd have to do a little bit more explaining. "It's pasta, and meat, I used chicken; is that okay?"

"Yeah, absolutely; so it's pasta and meat..."

"And sauce and you mix it all together and you put it in a dish," she pointed to the dish sitting on the counter. "And you put cheese on top and then you put it in the oven, and you can have garlic bread with it if you like. Do you like garlic bread?"

"I love garlic bread."

"Good!" Maura clapped excitedly as she skipped over to the table and pulled up a red and white checked tea towel to show a small basket full of garlic bread. The smile that spread itself across Jane's face was so wide and happy that a tear came to her eye. "Are you okay?" Maura asked concernedly.

"Yeah, I just haven't had anything really Italian since I moved here; like home made. I tried a few times, but it's not like my ma used to make."

"She hasn't visited you?"

"No. When I left, I sort of burnt bridges with everyone I used to know." Maura sat down herself across from Jane and placed her hands in her lap, too into what Jane was saying to want to eat at the moment.

"Why'd you leave?"

"I'm the eldest child, so I really should've gotten somewhere; done something after school, but I didn't. We didn't grow up in the best neighbourhood so if you could get out of there, you did. My brothers did well in school and have gotten their lives together like that," she said with a snap of her fingers. "But me... I was too depressed for whatever reason to want to try."

"Are you still depressed?"

"No, I'm better now. I have a good job and friends... and you." Maura smiled at Jane when she said that, even though it was just a little whisper. "I was bullied at school, and my dad would yell a lot and I didn't get good grades like my brothers. In the end I didn't care if I slept on the streets, if I could run away from them, I would, and I did. Thankfully I had some money from my grandparents that kept me afloat for a little while, but before it ran out I'd gotten a job and soon after that a place to live, and now I'm all good."

"I'm proud of you, Jane."

"Why?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Because you did what you wanted to do; you fought for yourself, and you got yourself out of a toxic environment that made you feel non-existent."

"I mean, I know there are kids out there with worse, but I didn't always feel like I was loved or treasured as much as my brothers were, so yeah, it was toxic. But it's stupid, you know. I had people around me all the time, but I don't think any of them ever knew what was going on with me or what I was feeling."

"I know what you mean."

"Yeah?" Jane said with a little more hope in her voice than she'd meant. "I mean, thanks..."

"I know. I was..." Maura paused, wondering how she would phrase this. "In a relationship at NYU, and it backfired. Badly. I was bullied and ridiculed, and my life felt threatened at times. I was stereotyped into something that I didn't feel like I was, but by the time I'd gotten out of there, the voices of those people had scarred me and done irreparable damage to my mind, to my heart, and that makes me frightened."

"About what?" Maura brought her hand up to her eyes to wipe away the tears from her eyes before answering.

"Were they right? Will I ever fall in love again like that? Was it even real?"

"Oh, honey," Jane said as she stood up and rounded the table to Maura. She knelt down in front of the blonde and spun her towards her. She placed her hands over Maura's knees and looked up at her.

"Am I that slut who sleeps with her teacher to get better grades?"

"Shit. Maura, you're not a slut," Jane said, remembering what she'd overheard Maura saying in her bathroom. "You're not. You can sleep with a million people, and that still doesn't mean you are a slut." Maura gave her a disbelieving look. "It might be that you really like sex, and that's okay. It's a changing world, and insults like 'slut' and 'bitch' based on what someone does in their own time are stupid, outdated and ought to be obsolete."

"You are good."

"What?"

"I mean, you may have been bad at school... math, English, science... but you know shit about the world and about life and that's more important, I think."

"Thanks."

"And you can just ignore that bit about sleeping with my teacher."

"Oh, I think that one's gonna stick in my head for a while." Maura sighed with a slight laugh as she wiped her face clear of tears and straightened her back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Jane stood back up and instinctively leant forward and pressed a kiss to Maura's forehead, cradling the side of it with her hand. Maura reached up quickly and held Jane's hand at the side of her head, gently stroking her skin. She wanted so badly to pull Jane's mouth to hers to truly thank her, to trust her own heart to fall again, but she couldn't do that to Jane. There were two people in this situation, and that meant she had to be aware of both people's intentions and desires. She couldn't risk ruining her friendship with Jane just because she wanted to kiss her.

Jane pulled back, letting her hand rest on Maura's cheek for a moment before pulling back and walking back to her seat.

"Well, let's have dinner then."

"And let's talk about something nicer," Maura added earning her a nod and a smile from the gorgeous brunette across from her.


	14. Chapter 14

"Okay... Something nicer," Jane forked a mouthful of pasta bake into her mouth as she thought, but was suddenly consumed by the almighty rich and delicious taste that flooded her tastebuds. "Holy shit," she said out of the side of her mouth. "This is amazing!"

"Thanks," Maura said as she took a bite of her own dinner. "My mum taught me how to make it. I haven't actually made it since we had our big family gathering last year." Maura smiled at the memories; her father reciting entirely politically incorrect jokes that had the whole room in stitches while her cousins tried to teach her grandmother how to text. She would've liked to have been out in amongst the fun and jovial atmosphere, but alas, she was the cook for the evening.

Her smile faltered however, when she remembered earlier that day when she was at the store and she ran into Professor Swann and they had agreed to have dinner together sometime. Maura's tummy fluttered at the memory, but not for the same reason that it once had. It was a lovely evening as she remembered some more, but everything seemed nice at the time, before she'd been thrown under the bus.

"Hi, I'm so glad you came," The Professor said as she welcomed Maura into her apartment.

"Hi. Wow, you have a really awesome place." Maura walked in, the open studio apartment reaching out in front of her. There were scarves draped around the room, candles in little nooks, and sketches cluttering every clear space on the wall and most of the floor space. There was a large kitchen to her left and a lounge room that seemed to spread the whole rest of the place. As she walked in a bit further she could see that a bookcase seemed to separate the "lounge" from the "art room" and then around the corner up further was another room entirely. There were decorative pillars that closed it off a little, so Maura couldn't see what was beyond there from where she stood. "What's around there?" she asked pointing, then began removing her jacket.

"My bedroom," The Professor sulkily answered from behind her. Maura froze; her jacket still partly on, but before she could turn to face The Professor, she was behind her, pulling her jacket off her arms until it fell to the floor. "Wanna check it out?" Maura spun and almost collided with the older woman.

"Don't you want to eat?" she asked. She realised that she should have motioned to the kitchen the second that it left her lips, already knowing what The Professor's answer would be.

"You have no idea," her professor answered, biting her lip. _Okay, _Maura swallowed thickly. _I thought she would've just said 'yes'._

"Professor Swann..."

"Sorry, too fast." And with that, The Professor bent over and picked up Maura's jacket and turned to hook it on the back of the door. Maura stood for a moment, utterly stunned as to how this woman could switch between sexy and innocent in a second, like one was an act.

"Which one though?" Maura whispered to herself, before following The Professor to the kitchen to help with dinner. "What are we having?"

"I made a Chicken Caesar Salad, is that okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

"I also have a whole stash of popcorn in my cupboard in case you wanted to watch a movie later." Maura smiled, but still stood wondering if The Professor was really a robot manned by two completely different people... a split personality. _How could she be the same person though?_ "Unless you wanna do something else later," Professor Swann chimed in in an octave lower. _There she is. Her other half._

"Let's just have dinner first, shall we." Maura sat herself down at the kitchen counter cum dinner table and accepted a plate from The Professor, who was smirking to herself. They dished out there food in relative silence and began eating the same, except for when Maura squeaked as The Professor poured her a glass of white wine. She didn't normally drink, partly because if she had to go home to her own house the same night, her mother would know about it. The glass was already full by the time she'd had enough reaction to squeak, but something told her to just go with it. "I don't normally drink unless I'm crashing at a friend's place."

"Well, don't worry. I won't get you too drunk."

"Please don't, because my mum would have a fit."

"You are old enough, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but as long as I'm living under her roof, I've got to respect that fact that she doesn't particularly want to see her daughter drunk."

"Fair enough," The Professor said, taking a drink from her own glass. "Where did you tell your parents you were tonight? Because I doubt that you told them you were having dinner with your professor."

"I said I was going to a poetry reading."

"Cool. Do you like poetry?"

"I like anything that can express emotion and beauty in a different way than is usually seen; poetry, music, art..."

"Nice. Well, I think that's great."

"Do you?"

"Yeah, I love... a lot of things, but if it can make me see something in a different sense, then I'll appreciate it all the more." The two of them spoke about their likes and dislikes for the next hour or so, finishing their dinner and then over on the couch with their glasses of wine. Through conversation Maura had learned things about The Professor that she would've never guessed, like she was afraid of too much sunshine. If it went without rain for too long, Professor Swann would need to go on emergency leave and go to some rainy forest somewhere. When Maura asked her if she ever really did, The Professor confessed that she it so many times at her last university in North Carolina that she was told that she had to stop or transfer, and so she ended up at NYU where it had nice rainy days and overcast windy days every week or so.

She also learned that she had eleven siblings because her parents were foster parents and so she had four sisters and seven brothers. Not all at once in the one house, like Maura had asked, but they did have nine kids in the house at one time, but thankfully Professor Swann had moved out by then. "What about you? Any brothers or sisters?"

"No; we baby-sit our cousin's dog every now and then, so that's the closest."

"What's its name?"

"Her name is Frannie and she's a Labrador. She's six years old this year and so we are going to the beach for a doggy party."

"How different," The Professor said in a slightly amused tone.

"You should come. Only if you want, but it'd be loads of fun."

"I'd like that." Maura smiled but suddenly her head felt too heavy for her to manage on her own, and so she lolled it back against the couch and sighed, closing her eyes.

"How much wine have I had?"

"A few glasses; why? Not sitting right?"

"My head... it just... it feels... you're very gorgeous."

"What?" The Professor said with a smile, surprised by Maura's admission.

"You're so gorgeous. And your couch is so soft," Maura mumbled as she began sliding down to the armrest. She snuggled in when her head hit it and tucked her legs up. The next thing she knew, The Professor was running her hand up the young blonde's legs, over her knees, then up around her bottom and gently slid under her shirt. She gently caressed her back as she knelt down beside the couch and leant in close to whisper in Maura's ear.

"Do you want to stay?"

"Um... I shouldn't."

"But do you want to?" The Professor asked, her lips grazing Maura's ear lobe. She pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek and came back to read Maura's expression. Maura nodded and then their mouths were together, hot and sweet from the wine. She was rolled onto her back, The Professor's hand still underneath her shirt, grasping at her skin so tightly it could bruise. She had no idea what to do with her own hands, but it didn't seem like The Professor needed much help for they were soon in their sweaty underwear with nothing but passion between them.

"Are you okay?" Jane asked Maura whose face was blank of emotion.

"Yeah," Maura answered, shaking her head and smiling embarrassedly. "So... something nice to talk about? Have you begun shopping for baby stuff?"

"Nah, I mean, I haven't even gotten a baby bump yet, you know."

"Well, tell me when you do, because I'd like to be there, if that's okay?"

"What? See my baby bump?" Jane joked.

"Well, yeah, but the shopping."

"Thanks; I mean, I'll need help getting it all upstairs."

"Yeah, well, I'll be your delivery girl."

"My very cute delivery girl." Maura raised her hand to her face, completely covering it as her blush exploded across her face. When she peeked out between her fingers, she saw Jane covering her face in much the same way she was, apparently making herself blush. "Sorry," the brunette groaned from behind her hand.

"It's okay. I'll be delivering to a very cute mother-to-be, anyway."

"Oh, god," Jane whined, not sure if they were flirting or just being nice. At least with guys, Jane thought, you knew if they were flirting or not. Girls that were friends were generally nice to each other anyway, so it made it all the more confusing. Not that Jane had ever had that many girl friends to be nice to or vice versa.

"Well, in case we explode from blushing, I think we should change the subject."

"Good idea," Jane giggled. "So, how's work been?"

"It's been good. There's this guy who works in the deli and I think he likes me, but nah..."

"Oh, Maura, just because he works in deli," Jane said.

"I didn't mean that," Maura argued, throwing her napkin across the table, hitting Jane square in the face. "Sorry," she said, not meaning for it to hit her quite so hard.

"Oh, that's okay," Jane said as she threw it back, hitting Maura in the chest. Jane had accidentally dipped the napkin in her meal before she threw it however, so now there was a rather large splodge of sauce on Maura's shirt. "Shit!"

"Oh, how would you like it if I smeared sauce all over your chest," Maura grumbled as she stared at her stained shirt.

"You wouldn't dare," Jane stated, making Maura look up sharply.

"Oh, really," Maura teased, gently tossing back the napkin.

"Yeah," Jane said, her voice full of bravado, although she was secretly beckoning Maura over to rub her hands over her chest. Maura stood up, grabbed a handful of her warm saucy dinner and walked over to Jane, whose smile had vanished. "Maura, I'm sorry."

"Too late," Maura whispered as she bent down to Jane. She then hooked her empty hand behind Jane's neck and then proceeded to smear her dinner all over Jane's front. Jane gasped and leaned back in her chair. She glanced up at Maura and noticed that she was cheekily biting her lip, almost as if she was having too much fun.

Maura released her hold on Jane's neck, sliding that hand down to Jane's chest and continued smearing on Jane's chest. "Oh, this is war!" Jane said. Maura stopped and looked dead into Jane's eyes almost in fear. Jane spun a little in her seat so that she was facing Maura and then practically pulled her onto her lap before dumping a handful of food onto Maura's chest. As the blonde sat straddling Jane's lap, she too piled more food onto Jane until her plate was empty and the two of them were leaning into each other as they laughed their heads off. Jane's right arm was still slung around Maura's waist from when she pulled her onto her lap and her left hand rested on the blonde's right hip, as Maura's hands rested on Jane's shoulders.

When their laughter died down, Maura rested her forehead on Jane's and was ever so tempted to lean in and kiss her, but stopped herself. Jane sighed in disappointment as Maura got off her lap and brushed her hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand. When she locked eyes with Jane again, they both had another intense blush across their faces, and they started giggling again. "Do you think we should change the subject again?" she asked.

"No," Maura laughed. "I think we should clean ourselves up this time." Jane stood and wiped off most of the sauce from her chest with the napkin that started it all then made her way to the door. "We didn't eat much, so..."

"So?"

"Do you want me to grab a pizza and then help you clean up the table?"

"Tell you what, you go grab a pizza and when you get back, the table will be clean and we can watch a movie or something."

"Okay, thanks for the food fight anyway," Jane joked before she opened the door. Maura bit her lip as she closed the door and pressed her forehead against it. "What the fuck was that?!" Maura whispered to herself. "I touched Jane's boobs." She stood up and made her way to the bathroom, pulling off her shirt as she went. "I wasn't meant to touch her boobs." She pulled her pants off and jumped into the shower to wash her saucy sticky chest. She stared down at her own breasts as if they were her friends. "And yet, I fondled them within an inch of their lives." She rolled her eyes at herself and stuck her head under the spray.

When she was thoroughly clean of rich tomato-y sauce, she stepped out and wrapped her hair up in a towel and pulled her pants back on, because they were still clean after all. Her shirt, however, was a lot messier than she recalled and immediately dumped it in a bucket with some washing powder for it to soak overnight.

Jane also dumped her shirt into a bucket to soak overnight. She'd already spilt coffee on herself today, so some more washing was no big deal. She tried to keep herself busy as she re-showered and re-dressed and went out for their re-dinner determined to prevent her mind from wondering back to the image of her hands all over Maura's soft and no doubt beautiful breasts. She'd mulled over it in the shower as she washed her own breasts, which weren't as full as the blondes, so she felt like she got the better end of the stick. "Stop it, Jane!" she ordered herself as she stepped into the pizza place.

"Hey, Vanilla; what can I get you?"

"Hey, Rondo; um, just a meat lovers please."

"Sure," he said. He turned to the kitchen and yelled out Jane's order, then turned back to the girl slouching against his front counter. "You okay, Vanilla?"

"Yeah."

"'Okay' is kind of depressing these days, huh?"

"Okay, so I'm less than 'okay'. I like my neighbour."

"The pretty little blonde that was in with you the other week?"

"I do have more than one neighbour, you know."

"Well, it sure as hell ain't Barry."

"Touché," she smiled up at the older man. "I do like Maura."

"Well, she's nice. She's come in every now and then and we talk about you."

"About me?"

"Yeah, something tells me she likes you too Vanilla." She would've asked more, but her pizza arrived and so she paid and left, giving Rondo and the rest of the pizza boys a smile to brighten up their slow night. She made her way back over to her apartment block and upstairs to Maura's. She knocked on the door and Maura swung it open, her phone to her ear. She welcomed Jane in with a smile and then closed the door behind her.

"Yeah, Nina; she's here now, so I've gotta go. See you on Friday."

"Say 'hi' for me!" Jane called as she opened the pizza box on Maura's coffee table.

"Jane says hi, by the way. Okay, I'll tell her." Jane looked up at Maura who was smiling, but then it vanished as Nina was talking. "I'm not telling her that," the blonde said as she turned away. "Goodbye, Nina." She placed her phone on the clean table and crossed over to Jane who was sitting on the couch with a piece of pizza balancing on her fingertips.

"What can't you tell me?"

"Nothing," Maura said shaking her head, although Jane knew it wasn't 'nothing', but she wasn't going to push.

"So what do you want to watch?" she asked.

"Um, do you want to watch... 50 First Dates?"

"I love that movie!"

"Awesome," Maura exclaimed as she opened the DVD case and stuck it in the player. Her mind wandered to her phone call with Nina that she'd just had and how she kind of sort of maybe told her that she had a crush on Jane. Well, Nina squealed and repeated "I knew it! I knew it!" for a good five minutes. She even stated that she should have made a bet with Maura; that way she'd get some money out of it. Overall, she was ecstatic that Maura had admitted it to herself, let alone Nina, but Maura had insisted that she'd not tell Jane, no matter how much she really wanted to kiss her.

Nina accepted and quietened down a bit, but Maura got her squealing all over again when she mentioned that she'd saved Jane's life that afternoon. "Oh my god! You are so romantic, Maura," she'd said.

"Well, I suppose if I'd let her get hit by a car it would've been un-romantic."

"Well, duh!" Maura was glad she'd found a friend like Nina who always saw the good in a situation, but she just knew it was going to be hard to not tell Jane when all Nina wanted for her to do was the exact opposite.

She stood up and sat next to Jane on the couch, who offered her a slice of pizza as the movie began.


	15. Chapter 15

**FIFTEEN**

"So, you have the hots for Jane, huh?" Maura snapped her head up at Nina as they left the lecture room, although she really didn't know why she was quite so surprised. Nina had been glaring at her all lesson with her pen sitting in between her teeth, her grin almost creeping Maura out. She knew she shouldn't have told her friend, her gossipy friend, but it just sort of slipped out. She felt as if she were going to burst if she didn't tell someone that her hands had had the pleasure of roaming over Jane's gorgeous chest, and so naturally she called Nina. The rest of her bubbling feelings for the tall brunette just tumbled out before she could stop herself.

"Can you not phrase it like that, please?"

"Well, don't you?"

"Okay... I _like_ Jane. I have a _crush_ on Jane. I do not have _the hots_ for Jane."

"Well, okay to you. _But_; do you want to kiss Jane?"

"Yes," Maura admitted in a hushed tone.

"Do you want to hold Jane in your arms?"

"Yes," yet again, in a hushed tone.

"And do you want to press every inch of your body to hers as you make earth-shattering, mind-blowing love to her?"

Maura looked around her before she answered, lowering her voice even more. "Yes..."

"Well then, my dear friend, you have the hots for your darling Jane."

"Okay, but I prefer to-"

"To make it sound as poetic as possible."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Anytime, my sweet." Nina wrapped her arm around Maura's shoulders and squeezed her. "So when are you going to tell her?"

"What?" Maura exclaimed, pulling out of the embrace a little to look at Nina. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, you've gotta tell her."

"I can't. Nina, she's having a baby!"

"With a guy! I know! But Maura, just 'cause she got pregnant from a guy, who obviously didn't satisfy her, as I'm expecting other guys haven't either..." She waited for a slight nod from the blonde before continuing with her point. "That doesn't mean that she is straight. Sexuality is fluid, my friend. She could've thought that she was one hundred billion per cent straight, but then she met you, this perfect person with the most amazing smile. I'm a little bit gay for you myself."

"Shut up!"

"I'm serious. I'd be crazy if I wasn't, but I'm not gonna get in the way of this beautiful romance you will have with Jane, so..."

"_Will_?"

"Yeah, you will fall in love with Jane, if you haven't already, and she will too. I've seen movies and T.V shows and I know. Okay; I know." Maura looked down at her feet and sighed out deeply in thought. "But you're still not gonna tell her, are you?"

"Well, not today."

"That's progress, I guess. You wanna grab something to eat now?"

"Yes, please." They left the building and jumped on the bus just as it was about to leave. Seated in the back row, Maura turned to Nina and smiled.

"What?"

"Thanks for caring."

"Hey, I have no sex life, so I gotta live through you, alright."

"Well, whatever it is that makes you invest in my existence, I'm glad you do."

"Aw, babe; don't get teary on me."

"I'm not," Maura shrugged. "I'm just happy."

"And I am glad to hear it." The two of them shared a smile, and inside Maura's whole being seemed to settle into place. She had friends here that weren't judging her, only loving her, and she'd not had that in such a long time, maybe ever, so contentment was so blissfully exciting to feel right now.

"Where do you want to go for lunch?"

"Where ever you want to go."

"How about... Jane's diner?"

Nina looked cheekily at her friend, making her squirm a little, but then relented and smiled. "Sure."

Jane looked up from the cash register as she heard the bell ring and the door swish closed again. An unbelievably cheesy grin spread across her face causing the old lady she was tending to smile knowingly. Jane shook her head away from Maura's graceful slump into the booth and finished with her customer. "Say 'hi' to you girlfriend for me, Janie," the white haired woman said.

"Okay, Donna... Bye." Jane tried to make her face look like she had no idea what Donna was talking about, but the truth was, she would be ecstatic to say "I certainly will" in the future; a future where Maura was her girlfriend. She watched Donna get up and cross the diner to the door, but when her path crossed with Maura's, Jane's eyes stuck. The way the art student blew her hair out of her face as her chin rested in her palm, her eyes scanning the menu, but not for anything in particular. It was a mere distraction until Jane came close enough for her to look up. Maura pulled up her leg and tucked her foot under the other leg's thigh, and resumed her slouch.

Seeing that at least Nina was ready to order, Jane stepped out from behind the counter, showing her slight baby bump which made her apron stick out like a mini tent. Not a lot, but enough for Jane to get excited when she first really noticed it, causing her to dash over to Maura's and knock incessantly on her door until she came out. Jane then spun side on and lifted up her baggy shirt. The sheer couple-y behaviour of the two of them as Maura bent forward and cupped Jane's tummy in her soft hands and practically nuzzled it with her nose as she started baby talking to it made Jane giggle a little. Maura's squeaky 'hello little one; how are you?' and her warm breath that spread over Jane's skin like oozing lava made her bite her lip and try desperately not to cry.

"Hi, Maura."

"Hi, Jane." Maura looked at Jane; Jane looked at Maura; and Nina looked between the two of them wondering how long it would take one to talk again. She would've kept watching avidly like a sports fan, but her stomach had other plans.

"Anyway," Nina's chipper voice cut through. "I'll have a BLT please."

"Sorry," Jane breathed out. Maura buried her face in her hands and silently prayed for Nina to not bring it up. However, no such gods were listening to Maura at that moment, and so as Maura ordered scrambled eggs on toast, she could feel Nina's smug smile and her eyes burning into her.

Maura smiled at Jane as long as she could until it looked kind of creepy like she was enthusiastically checking out her ass, and then turned to Nina, a deep breath seeming to prepare her. "What?"

"You know, there's probably no one in the bathroom, so if you two wanted to... I'd be fine to wait here."

"Shut up, Nina!" Maura whispered intensely through clenched teeth. "I'm not going to have sex with Jane in the bathroom."

"Right," Nina nodded, then looked down at her phone. "At least not the first time anyway." A swift kick in the shins shut her up well enough for now, but Maura needed a more effective way of keeping her friend quiet. _A change of subject_, Maura decided.

"Hi, Susie!" Maura called across the diner. There was only one other person there, but he was listening to music, so no one would mind the noise.

"Hi, Maura. Nice to see you again," the other woman answered.

"Yeah, you too. Have you met my friend Nina."

"Hi; Susie."

"Nina. So you work here with Jane?"

"Yeah; I've known her since I started. She really makes it easier to work. She's fun." Maura was about to ask how college was going for Susie, but Jane popped out of the kitchen calling Maura's name and continued shuffling to the bathroom, so the blonde excused herself and quickly followed Jane.

"Jane, what's wrong?" she asked when the door closed behind them.

"Give me your hand," Jane ordered as she started undoing her apron and pulling out her tucked-in shirt.

_Oh, god. Nina was right. We are going to have sex in the bathroom._ "Jane..." The brunette cut her off however by grabbing the shorted woman's hand and pressing it flat against her bare tummy. Maura waited a second and then there it was. A kick.

"Did you feel it?"

"Oh, my god, Jane! The baby's kicking!"

"I know!" Maura leapt forward onto her tip toes and wrapped her free arm around Jane's neck, still pressing her hand to the waitress' tummy. Jane hugged back and bowed her head so that her lips were pressing against Maura's neck. Maura moved to back away to focus on the baby again, but Jane's grip on her remained firm. She slid her arm further around Maura's back and hooked around her hip, squeezing gently. Maura relaxed and slid her tummy-cupping hand around to Jane's hip. She suddenly felt a warm exhale on her neck that sent shivers down her spine, so she instinctively began turning her head to tuck it into her ticklish neck when her cheek grazed Jane's. Both women loosened their grip, but only a fraction; a fraction enough for them to stare into each other's eyes. Maura was the first to glance at the pair of moist pink lips in front of her as she lowered herself to her normal standing position.

She wistfully tilted her head upward as if her own lips were being tugged to Jane's, but then she stopped herself. Her hand from around Jane's neck slid down to her shoulders and then to her collarbones; her fingertips gracing the skin there like a kiss of their own. Maura's body, flush with Jane's, rocked from side to side ever so slightly as if she were preparing herself, but then another kick. She bounced back and looked up mournfully into Jane's eyes. Oh, how she wanted to kiss her then. A gentle connection of their lips expressing nothing but love; the kind lovers give each other before falling asleep; but alas, it was not meant to be.

"Sorry."

"It's okay... it was just 'cause... we're both excited, you know?" Jane fumbled, taking an easy step back from Maura.

"Yeah." Maura tried to find something in her brain to say, but it was all just... Jane.

"Well, your lunch will probably be ready." Maura opened the door for Jane and they slipped out back into the diner.

Nina and Susie watched confusedly as Maura dashed into the bathroom after Jane and then turned to each other for an explanation. Neither had one, so shoulders were shrugged, and Susie sat herself down. "So, Maura..."

"So, Jane..." Both stared at each other trying to figure out what their respective 'so's meant and if it was in fact the same thing. Nina straightened her back as she breathed in deeply, then spat it out. "They're so obviously in love with each other."

"Oh, god yes, but who's going to tell them."

"Well, they are gonna take _forever_ to figure it out for themselves, so I suppose... us?"

"Who says they're going to believe us?"

"Well, you're friends with Jane, and I'm friends with Maura, so they obviously tell us stuff. And I don't know about Jane, but Maura doesn't have that many friends..."

"Jane neither."

"So they'd tell us," Nina deduced. "So if I told Jane and you tell Maura..."

"But we've only met a few times; it would be kind of rude."

"True. Well, I say we each tell our respective friend..."

"And swear to everything that it's true."

"And do that 'hold their hands in yours and profess that it is the only truth that we believe in' thing that makes them go 'oh, alright.'"

"Sounds good," Susie smiled, thrusting her hand across the diner table. Nina shook Susie's hand dramatically but then pulled it back and placed it in her lap when Jane and Maura came back out. They looked a little flushed through their awkward smiles but split up as soon as the door closed behind them, so that the awkwardness would stop. Susie pulled a confused face at Nina and got up to follow Jane to the kitchen, and Maura sat back down across from Nina.

"What happened?"

"The baby was kicking."

"Oh, that's great," Nina smiled. "But why were you two so flushed?"

"Please don't," Maura grumbled.

"You know she likes you, right?"

"What?" Maura practically yelled as she snapped her head up.

"Okay, not here," Nina noted to herself as Jane came out of the kitchen with their lunch. Jane placed the plates down with only a quick, and again awkward smile for Maura, then hurried back into the kitchen. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah, of course." Maura's mind was wandering again. She'd never felt such a desire to kiss Jane in that instant. It didn't seem to matter that she had just been feeling Jane's baby kick, or that they were in a bathroom; it just felt like she wouldn't be able to breathe unless that breath contained Jane. But somehow, she did survive and was able to take that stale breath of air and pull herself away. She wished she hadn't, but she did. She did it for her and she did it for Jane.

Lunch was rather quiet; just the occasional chat about the news or the changes in the bus timetables or their assignment. "Have you started drawing yet?"

"No; Jane and I are doing our first one tomorrow. I'm going to show her my preliminary sketch tonight so she can get an idea of how I want her to be and so that she can get used to it."

"So what is your first... position?" Nina tried not to use the word, knowing that her mind would wander in to not-so PG rated territory, but it sort of just slipped out. She looked down at her plate of crumbs so that she didn't have to see Maura staring at her, knowing just where her wandering mind had wandered to.

"Well, the first panel will be finding out. The second, third and fourth will be the first, second and third trimesters and my final panel; the one we submit at the end of our semester; will be of Jane holding her baby."

"But we don't exactly have 9 months..."

"I know, so I'm going to be drawing Jane over each weekend for the next month or so and just sort of adding in her growing tummy. And I want to take my time with this because like right now, I could sketch the first panel easily, but as her pregnancy progresses, she's going to start feeling different and it may be too much for her to not move for two or so hours, so I'm going to spread it out for her."

"You're a good person." Maura half smiled, half nodded, agreeing with Nina but also knowing that the main driving force for her to be so caring and considerate despite her limited timeline was because she was so quickly falling in love with Jane.

"So tomorrow, I'm going to have Jane sitting in her bathroom on the floor leaning against the bath holding a pregnancy test, but I'm just going to use a stick of some sort."

"Because otherwise you'd be kind of wasting a test stick."

"Yeah."

"Fair enough. Her butt's not going to get sore is it?"

"I'm going to take a photo when she's positioned correctly and so she can get up and move around, but then we both know how she was before she... got up and moved around."

"That's a good idea. Mine's not going to be that troublesome. I just sketch trees and grass and shit."

"But it's nice trees and grass and shit."

"Oh yeah, absolutely."

"And it's not troublesome." Jane stuck her head out of the kitchen, ready to go and collect the two women's plates, but then she heard Maura say her name. "Jane's being an absolute angel about this. I mean, she's going to be doing whatever I tell her and she's gonna be..." she lowered her voice. "She's not gonna be wearing clothes all the time."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, well; I don't want her pregnant tummy to be obstructed by a huge baggy sweater, now do I?"

"I suppose not," Nina conceded. "But sheets are...?"

"Oh yes; sheets are going to be draped in specific ways."

"Hey guys, are you all done here?" Jane asked as she made her way across the diner.

"Yes we are; thank you. It was delicious," Nina said.

"Thanks, Jane."

"You're welcome," Jane said with a gentle bite to her lip, making Maura mirror her movement.

"So," Maura started as Jane picked up Nina's plate. "I'm fine to come over tonight?"

"Yeah; I can't wait." Nina watched the so incredibly obvious flirt tennis going on in front of her and wondered how they were even awkward around each other before. It was like a fifteen minute break from each other's presence was enough to make them go crazy not seeing each other, and therefore when they did see each other, they flirted like crazy.

"Well, I've got to get to the park to do my sketching, but you two lovebirds have a great night." And with that, Nina slipped some cash to Maura and sped out of there, proud that she was leaving the two of them to be awkward around each other again. Jane looked down at her feet, balancing Nina's plate on her hand as Maura slid out of the booth. The blonde picked up Nina's money slowly, biting her lip cheekily then glanced her eyes seductively up into Jane's.

"So... we're lovebirds?"

"Apparently," Jane whispered with a slight eye roll. Maura giggled a little to herself, slightly embarrassed by Nina's words, but also quite delighted by them. "What do you want for dinner?" Jane interjected innocently. Maura, still hung up on how Nina perceived them, and still harbouring a hell of a lot of flirting energy, pulled out her own lunch money, folded it inside Nina's and stepped closer to Jane.

"Surprise me," she whispered, slipping the money into Jane's apron pocket. She spun on her heels and made her way out of the diner, not with the seductive smile she'd have imagined, but with a rather mischievous grin instead. She made it to the corner of the street before she let out a laugh at herself. She shook her head, still laughing, as her phone buzzed in her pocket, so she fished it out and opened the message from Jane.

_Cheeky ;)_


End file.
